Shinigami Child
by Lillian Edwards
Summary: On september 18th 1980 a girl is born with the ability to reconize death notes and shinigami without touching a death note. And if that wasn't enough, she also has a tie to L but does she have the ability to save him? L and Oc pairing.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Birth**

Koyuki Maki lay in the hospital bed, her head swam as she tried to focus on one thing, the window, the ceiling the many masked doctors running about. She just wanted to go to sleep now but she had to stay awake. A dagger of pain erupted through her forcing away some of the fog that in pared her consciousness. "It's crowning!" she heard one man say to the other doctors,

the words sounded like soup to her. More pain caused her to break her silence with a shriek "Ok, ok, it's alright just try to breath on three," a man said patting her hand gently in an attempt to calm her down, "one, two, three" he continued and Koyuki took as many deep slow breaths as she could as the man counted to ten, "Alright, now push!" Koyuki did as she was bid and forced pressure throughout her body in an attempt to force out the child. A few seconds later she heard a loud whining sound, it broke through all her pain, and in that moment the birth cries of her child became the most beautiful sound in the world.

If only the child's father had been there to hear it, she thought, he would have liked it. But he would never hear, he was dead, shot during a mafia gang raid, shot to death just two weeks before the birth of his child. "It's a girl," the swimming voice pronounced. A girl. And with that Koyuki Maki of Osaka, Japan, passed out.

"Miss Maki?" Koyuki stirred to show she was alive but made no other move, she was too tired to move. "Miss Maki?" What? Couldn't she get any sleep around here? She opened her eyes slowly, trying to adjust to the sudden light. She was in a typical white-walled hospital room, the curtains were open to let in the... setting sun? It had been night during the birth so how was the sun just now setting? A horrible thought occurred, it was the next night.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked the nurse who was tending the pitcher of water on the bedside table.

"Almost a day, Ma'am." she said. A day! Koyuki didn't have any family or friends with money to pay her bills if she let something like giving birth get in the way of her work, she couldn't afford to miss any more days or she and her new daughter would be out on the streets.

"I have to leave now," she told the nurse, "Please bring me my child so we can go."

"Miss, you have only had one day to recover your strength, please wait." but Koyuki was already standing and gathering her cloths from the chair by the bed, she had redressed herself by the time the nurse had finished her sentence. She was doing fine for someone who had given birth less then 24 hours ago.

Then on her way to the door she was overcome by a wave of dizziness and would have fallen if not for the nurse who helped her to steady herself. "Please, miss you must lie back down." the worried nurse said.

"No, I have to leave now please bring me my child." Koyuki had righted herself enough to stop the room from spinning.

"But..." the nurse began but Koyuki didn't want any more arguments and had left the room. Down the spinning hallways and through a double doors, she went into the room where the newborns were kept with the help of a thin pale woman she found which child was hers, and within a minute or so she had filled in the parents space of the birth certificate. But when it came to the child's name she was undecided.

"I'll come back another time with it filled out but I can't think of a name right now," she told the woman.

"Alright but make sure you bring the certificate back within the next few days." Koyuki swayed noticeably, "maybe, you should take a cab?" the woman offered.

By the time the cab had arrived it was dark, the driver was a plump man with black hair and a black stubbled beard, in his right hand he held a cigarette, in his cup holder, a can of bear. Koyuki got in the cab placing the hospital baby carrier on the seat to her left. The driver turned to her, "Where to?" he asked. His breath stank of alcohol and smoke.

"Um... two blocks down and then turn right," she said trying to store up fresh air in her lungs before the door closed.

"Kay," the man said. The baby girl had woken from her sleep with a cry, if she had been older it would have been one of fear, but her mother didn't understand what she meant to say. "Hey lady, keep your kid quiet, ok?"

Koyuki resisted the urge to glare at the cabby, as she worked to hush her daughter. The cab neared a stoplight, the child began to whine and Koyuki attempted to quiet her again. The cabby's limbs seamed to relax suddenly, then tensed as he let out a scream of pain. Koyuki felt the cab lunge forward into the busy intersection, she grabbed her daughter from the carrier as the cab was hit from several angles at once.

The sides were all crushed and Koyuki felt her side smash into something sharp, she let out a scream of pain. It was then that she noticed something her child had been silent since the cab was crushed, Koyuki lifted her head to look at her child, the girl stared back with steel grey eyes. Her eyes were different from other newborns, a cold silver-grey as opposed to the normal blue that all babies had at birth, they weren't Koyuki's eyes or the girls father's.

Something warm dripped down her side.

She smiled at her daughter.

She could almost hear her heart slowing. She removed the large silver heart necklace she had received from the girl's father.

She became aware of a hissing noise.

The pendant alone was probably solid silver and probably worth a lot.

Her side bleed more of her lives blood.

She had never considered selling the necklace even though she needed the money.

The pain was unbearable.

She placed the necklace around the girls neck.

The gas tank exploded as Koyuki clutched her daughter close.

The smoke cleared but a fire still burned, all the observers and all the other cars in the wreck had either died or fled the explosion. A lone man walked slowly though the wreckage, he stopped by the cab driver and kicked his limp foot, checking to make sure he was really dead. The body didn't move. "That's what you get, you stupid bastard." the man said and turned to leave. He was taking his first step back across the wreckage when a small noise caught his attention, he turned and walked toward it, a smarter man may have fled the scene of a murder he had caused, but the man wasn't worried.

The sound had come from beside a piece of metal, part of the cab no doubt. Upon closer inspection, the man found a woman's body, in one bloody fist she had crumpled a birth certificate, in the other arm she supported a baby. The strange thing was the baby not only lacked any mark of the accident, but also it was starring right over the man's shoulder and cooing gently.

Reaching for something, but there was only one thing behind him: his shinigami, and of course there was no way the child could see it, much less reach for it. The man suddenly had a strange urge, he bent down and pried the birth certificate from the woman's hand. The parent was Maki, Koyuki, date of birth: September 18th 1980, name: ..., wait there was no name, the man turned a fraction of an inch to his left, suddenly deciding to test a theory. "Kyu, what's this child's name?" he asked the shinigami behind him.

"You know I can't tell you peoples names," Kyu answered, "besides you shouldn't need the death note to kill a baby,"

"I'm not going to kill it, I just wanted to know if you could see it's name with your eyes," the man said back. The shinigami focused for a second, then turned away from the child's grey eyes,

"I cannot see the child's name, for it has none," Kyu said.

"Thought so" the man said to himself, so if the child had no name, then the death note couldn't kill it. He thought for a moment then reached down and picked up the child.

"What are you doing?" Kyu asked.

"If there are people in the world that the death note can't kill, then I want to make sure they're not a problem for me," the man answered. "If I gave the child a name would I be able to kill it?" he asked.

"No," Kyu answered, "only a name given to someone by their parent can be used as their real name."

"Right then, well, I guess I'll just have to watch this girl then."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Six years later, a young black-haired girl ran down the street, she wore a short shirt colored with purple dark brown and turquoise in a striped pattern with the faded colors crossing each other in thin streaks, a white button up shirt that had been stained with patches of brown from dirt and wear. Around her neck was a large silver heart necklace on a silver chain, she stopped at a street corner and looked around for a moment, before taking out a piece of red colored taffy and putting it in her mouth, she chewed it until she was sure the inside of her mouth had turned red, then tucked it under her tongue.

With that done, she ran up to a woman with a large, full-looking, purse. She made to run past, but her timing was right on and she reached her just as the woman stuck her foot out to take a step. The girl's foot caught on the woman's and she fell forward, caching herself on her hands as only years of practice had taught her how to do without looking like it, as she quickly lowered herself to the ground in order to look like she had fallen hard, she coughed out some of her red dyed saliva onto the ground in front of her. It had worked. The woman turned to the fallen girl.

"Are you alright?" she asked in a worried voice, "I'm so sorry." the girl chewed the red taffy some more before pushing it back under her tough and getting to her knees. The woman laid a hand on her back. "Are you ok?" she asked again.

"Ye-..." the girl started then coughed out more red. The woman was worried, the girl could tell without even turning around.

"Oh my," the woman said, "I am sorry, please let me help you up." the woman said as she began to move. Now.

"No, I'm fine." the girl said and tried to get up while moving forward, she slipped and knocked over the woman's purse as she tried to regain her balance. She coughed up some more red as she use the hand that had grazed the woman's purse to cover her side and ran off. The woman got to her feet, as she watched the girl's retreat. Then she picked up her purse and walked away.

The girl ran to the next corner then right after she turned around it she ducked down a side ally, ran to the end and just as she was about to hit the wall of the dead end ally, she turned right and sprinted down behind a street-front house. As she came to another wall a latter came into focus, she leapt on to the third rung up and climbed to the top without a break in momentum. At the top was a broken window, the glass had been removed completely after it broke so she didn't cut herself climbing in an out, inside, she took a second to adjust to the dim light, all the windows were boarded up with the exception of the one she had climbed through.

A man sat in a wooden chair on the other side of the room, he had brown hair and brown eyes, a scar stretched across his left eye. He was tanned from hours in the sun, and wore jeans and a white t-shirt under a black leather jacket. "Anything?" he asked her.

"Yep," she answered proudly holding up a brown leather wallet strained to the point of ripping by its contents. "I got lots, lady on the street was a real softy, probably hasn't missed it yet." the girl swallowed her taffy.

"What's in it?" the man asked her.

"Lets see," the girl said opening the wallet and ruffling through its contents. "Checks, 'bout hundred fifty bucks cash, credit cards, pictures with names on the backs, driver's license, and a photo id." she finished.

"Give it here." the man said and the girl slid the wallet across the floor to him.

"Anything else?" the girl asked.

"Nope, not now." the man answered. The girl saw how absently he had answered her so she just went over to sit by Kyu the shinigami.

She was quiet for a while then, "Are you gonna kill her?" she asked sounding a little worried, "I mean, she was real nice to me." she finished, even though she had been living with the man and his shinigami all her life, the killing of some targets still bothered her a lot.

"No." the man said and the girl sighed with relief. He never killed people she stole from off the streets, just people in house jobs. And even then it was rare.

"We have a job tonight." he announced after several more minutes of silence.

"Really, where?" she asked.

"Some uptown joint, borrowed money from me and hasn't paid me back." oh, another collection She thought, people in those jobs almost always died.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

That night the two of them got ready for the job to come. Neither went armed, it wasn't necessary with the death note. They took a cab up to some place in a gated community, it was near midnight when the two arrived at a large white mansion-house on a street surrounded by other large mansions. They were close to London she could tell, there was just a smell in the air that told her they hadn't gone far from their hideout in central London.

They got out of the cab and walked up to the front door of the house, the building seemed to loom over the girl, casting dark shadows even at this hour. "So, how long until he dies?" she asked, she new he had already written his name it the death note, she could just tell. There was something about the death note and the victim that she could sense from a great distance, it was like a red aura that surrounded the death note when it was being used on someone, and the person it was being used on. She could feel it from several miles away any time between when the name was filled out and when it took affect, but she couldn't tell when it would take effect.

"3, 2, 1, now." the man said in a hushed tone as the aura intensified, then went out. There was a scream from inside that knotted the girl's stomach as it faded.

"Thirty-four." she whispered to herself.

Then there was a disturbance at one of the lacy windows. Something was wrong, but before she could say anything the door was open and a team of policemen came running out. The girl didn't wait for instructions, she just ran off to her right and into the shadows of the decorative garden. She crouched behind a rose bush and listened. None of the police had seen her and the man wouldn't give her away... or would he? As she watched he was confronted by the police. He was told that he was believed to be the burglar who had killed many people and stolen a number of valuable items. There were thirty-four victims in all. "Yes, I did it." he said, was he insane? But then he did something else, something that was not as crazy. He took the death note out of his bag, causing a noticeable reaction from the policemen, then he threw the notebook in the general direction of where she was hiding. It crashed through the bushes and landed a few feet away on the surface of the properties immaculate lawn. Two or three policemen followed the object, but the girl had already taken it and was running across the lawn at top speed.

She had crossed the lawn and was splashing through the small manmade stream by the time the policemen had passed the bushes, she was out of sight. She only had enough time to hear the man, her only father figure in the world say, "I relinquish ownership of this death note!" before she was on the highway that wound around the back of the property.

She ran until she reached a road sign that proclaimed "_London 5 miles_" she was out of breath and needed to do some thinking now. So she slid down the steep bank by the sign and sat in the ditch, it had lots of garbage in it and smelled kind of weird but she needed to rest.

She took out the last piece of taffy she had and chewed it thoughtfully, the sugar cleared her mind and two things became instantly clear to her. 1) the death note was now hers, and 2) she was all alone. She opened the black book and looked at the last page that was filled out, this page had ruined her life. She thought, as she ripped it from the book and through it in a muddy puddle. Kyu would probably show up tomorrow, but then what? She had nothing left. She would go to London, she decided as her consciousness slipped away, just as the sun rose.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

I forgot to say that in the last chapter.

**Chapter 2**

**A Fresh Start**

The sun had almost completely risen over the eastern horizon by the time the girl was awake, it had probably been about two hours since she had fallen asleep. She had to wait several minutes for the memories of last night to return, but when they did she went cold all over. She hadn't cried, really, in years because that wasn't something she had been allowed to do.

And she wasn't going to start now, going numb or cold was a default reaction so she wouldn't need to cry. She had been sleeping in a ball on her left side so her arm and leg were asleep, mostly where the death note had cut off the circulation in her arm. She lifted her head with great effort to look around, now that it was light enough to see she focused on her surroundings with more effort then was really necessary. She was in a pit the walls probably twelve feet tall but slanted so it would be easy to climb out, the ground in the lowest part of the pit was flooded and around that edge was a patch of mud and grass.

She had fallen asleep in some of the grass, there was also lots of trash in the pit, she saw bottles, cans, cigarette butts, and an old tire in the water. She finally woke herself enough to crawl out of her ball and sit in a more comfortable position. The page of the death note was still in the puddle and even though she didn't want it back, she couldn't leave it here for just anyone to find. She walked over to the edge of the water and attempted to retrieve the page but as she reached for the floating paper, some mud slid out from under her foot and she fell forward.

She splashed into the water pushing trash and the page away with the waves she created. She tried to regain her footing in the slippery mud at the bottom of the puddle so she could crawl out. Once she was on the grass patch again she picked up the page and climbed out of the puddle.

Kyu hasn't come yet, she thought, I was sure he would come for the death note by morning. In spite of the early hour, cars were already moving down the road to and from London. She would have liked to hitch a ride but knew it was to dangerous after last night, she would have to walk.

She sighed heavily as she started past the sign that read _London 5 miles_.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

By noon she had reached the city, and went strait to her old hideout, she called it hers now that the man would never use it again. Once there, she dug through the pile of things she had stolen, today would have been the day that they went and sold off or spent all of that week's "liberations" but not this week.

She took as much of the cash money as she could carry in one of the wallets, then as she turned to leave a dark shape blocked her way. "Kyu, why did it take so long for you to catch up to me?" she wasn't scared at all, the shinigami was her childhood friend.

"I wanted to stay as long as I could with them to see where they brought him in case you wanted to know." Kyu answered.

"Thank you, but no, do you want your death note back?" the girl asked, she didn't want the thing anymore.

"Are you relinquishing ownership of the death note?" Kyu asked back.

"No, I just wanted to know if it was really mine." she said after a moment's thought.

If she gave it back, then someone else could wind up with power to kill. She walked strait through Kyu and climbed down the latter. Once she was back out on the street she walked down to the corner and went into a bakery.

She bought an iced bun and a pocket full of her favorite red taffy, the absolutely loved sweets but didn't often get a chance to buy them with the man managing the money. She was walking down the street eating her iced bun and talking to Kyu about how to adapt to the new situation.

"So, what will you do now?" Kyu asked her.

"I'm not sure, maybe I'll go back to Japan and look up my family." she said back, a few people who couldn't see Kyu stared a bit then walked on.

"But, you don't have any family left, it would be a waste of time." Kyu answered her, no one else could hear him.

"Well maybe I do, you don't know for sure." more passing people glanced in her direction.

"I know you have no family left, because when the man found you he looked up your mothers name on the internet, and found that both her parents had died, they hadn't had any siblings and neither had she. Your father was an orphan and he had been killed two weeks before you were born." Kyu answered.

"Well then I don't know what to do, ok, are you happy?" she had raised her voice and now everyone within three yards was staring at her and her invisible conversant. Kyu began to speak but no one could hear him apart from the girl.

"I didn't want you to believe there was hope of finding your family when none exists." he said calmly which only made the girl angrier.

"Well I don't need your help to ruin my own life with the belief that maybe I'm not alone in the world! Why don't you take your stupid note book of death and go away!" she shouted taking the death note out and tearing the pages out before throwing it at Kyu and running off.

Kyu didn't catch it, so it looked even more like she was yelling at nothing for no reason. A psychiatrist eating in a near by café looked up at the argument. What a strange girl, he thought, she is completely filthy her face is covered in icing, and she is yelling and throwing things at nothing.

The psychiatrist got up and payed his bill before catching up with the girl and asking to talk to her.

"Why?" she sniffed she was crying now, and she wished she hadn't taken her anger out on Kyu.

"Where are your parents?" the psychiatrist asked her.

"Don't got none" the girl said this guy was annoying.

"Oh so you're an orphan then?" what the? Was this guy some serial killer or was he just being weird.

"Yes, genius, if someone doesn't have parents, they're an orphan." she said sarcastically.

He took that one well, she thought as he asked his next question. "Well then, who were you talking to just now in the square?" he asked, why not give him a run for his money?

"That was my friend, Kyu the shinigami." she said brightly, the man looked like she had just said exactly what he had wanted to hear.

"Oh can I meet your friend then?" he asked, why didn't he just get a life, and stay out of hers.

"Nope, you wouldn't be able to see him." she said now straining herself to sound happy.

"Why not?" the man asked. He wasn't going to give up was he?

"'cause you can't see him unless you touch his second notebook." she answered, it would have been easy to just say death note, but she wanted to play with him some more.

"His notebook?" the man asked.

"Yep, you have to touch his notebook of death." again death note would have been easier to say but she liked keeping this man guessing. "I've gotta go." she said and walked off, the conversation was boring her now. He followed. She could hear his footsteps behind her, what was he doing? She wanted very badly to turn around and shout for him to _go away!_ But she knew already that it wouldn't work.

He followed her down cobbled streets, dark back streets, and over fences all the time trying to keep silent. What did he want from her? Finally she had, had enough and stared speeding up hoping he would take the hint, but he sped up as well. That's it she thought as she broke into a full run, he ran too. She dodged down side streets and ran through corner shops with people shouting at her from the doorways.

He wouldn't stop chasing her! She passed an ice cream shop and chanced her first look back at the man. He was still behind her but the run was obviously tiring him out now. She looked forward again just in time to see the two people before she ran into the small boy, being unable to stop in time.

The man stopped behind her but she didn't care anymore. The boy she had hit was wearing a long sleeved, loose white shirt and a pair of baggy jeans he had been carrying an impossibly tall ice cream with several different flavors wiggling in the vertical balancing act. When they had collided the ice cream had gone flying, it was now all over both of them.

She was on top of him, and their faces were inches apart, his eyes were closed but she wouldn't have been able to see them clearly, anyway, through the tangled mop of black hair. The girl flushed a strange pink that she had never turned before.

Then he opened his eyes, they were large and black, like the pupils had dilated to cover almost the whole iris. Only the palest of blue could be seen around the perpetual black of the pupils. She then realized the awkward position she was in.

"Sorry!" she said as she climbed off the boy and offered her hand to help him up, he ignored it and her apology climbing to his feet on his own. Rude, she thought as her gaze shifted to the man behind the boy he was just old enough to be considered an old man to her, he had white hair though he was wearing a hat over it and wrinkled skin. He wore glasses and a long black coat, over what must have been an expensive suit.

Then the man who had been following her grabbed her shoulder roughly, and pulled her back from the two people. "My apologies," he said "I lost hold on my daughter." his daughter? They weren't even related! Anger bubbled up inside the girl, the man was lying through his teeth for no reason at all.

The girl struggled against his grip but it held firm. "It's quite alright." the white-haired man answered. No! It wasn't alright, she was being kidnaped! She lunged back with he bare foot and struck the man's shin hard, he released her as he doubled over in pain.

The girl ran over and hid behind the white-haired man, gaining a distrustful glance from the boy. The man had recovered from his injury by now but the girl didn't have the sense to run away, she felt safe with the white-haired man.

"Forgive my rudeness, but may I please see some identification?" the white-haired man asked. The girl wondered what he was doing, but didn't ask. The man had no choice, he took out his wallet and handed over his id to the white-haired man, who looked it over then handed it back. "Do you have any family?" he whispered over his shoulder to the girl. She was surprised at the question but shook her head, no, she didn't.

"I believe I will bring this girl home with me, my name I Quillish Wammy and I run an orphanage." the white-haired man said this with finality, and the other man backed down.

"Very well, but let me warn you this girl may not be mentally stable." he said, and walked away.

So that was it, he thought she was insane, she had to resist the urge to laugh out loud, thinking of how he had only helped his suspicions along.

"Now," the white-haired man said "would you like to come and live at Wammy's House?" he asked once the man was out of earshot. "It is an orphanage for gifted children, and you can stay until your tested to see if you can stay permanently." tested? Oh no not again, she thought, but he had saved her and she needed a place to stay at least for a day or two.

"Yes," she nodded glancing, for no reason at the boy, "thank you."

"Well, then in that case, I believe we are in need of more ice cream." the white-haired man said cheerfully. And the grouped walked back up the street to the ice cream shop, before climbing into a large black car and driving away with two ice cream towers in the back seat.

All the while the girl was thinking how strange it was that no one had asked her for her name.

**author's note**: thank you for reading this far, and I'm sorry if they seemed a little out of character. Please review. Also the lack of names is mainly due to lack of creativity. Bear with me it will get better. -Lie,


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own death note.

**Chapter 3**

**One plus one**

When the white-haired man, who was now Mr. Wammy, said an orphanage for gifted children, the girl had thought of clairvoyants or mind-power-using people. She sat in the back of the car eating the two-foot-tall ice cream cone, thinking of a creepy Halloween mansion filled with people moving things without touching them and knowing exactly when someone was going to trip in the halls.

She had attempted to engage the boy in a conversation, but to no avail. "So, are you gifted?" she had tried once, only to be met with a blank stare. Then there was, "Where are you from?" the boy didn't even look at her. "Um... are you new too?" her boldness was being shot down by the boy's refusal to answer.

She gave up. The girl turned her attention to the countryside, flying by outside the window. She even recognized the _London 5 miles_ sign... wait... she didn't have endless knowledge of the roads leading in and out of London, but didn't she pass that sign on the way in? Yes, that was definitely the same sign, she even recognized the pit with the tire. They were taking her back to the scene! She'd been tricked.

Wait, if they thought she was guilty, wouldn't they question her in London? Where there were police cars and lots of people who could overpower a little girl? Or maybe they didn't know she was guilty and were trying to gauge her reaction to the scenario. In that case it would be less suspicious if she stayed calm.

After all it was better to make them think she was innocent and be cleared then to avoid the whole thing. That settles it then, she thought, I'll act like I'm an innocent bystander in this whole thing.

Just then all her assumptions were proved false, when the car pulled up in front of a beautiful whitewashed house surrounded in green fields of grass, and partly covered in jasmine vines, that gave the air a sweet scent that the girl had never known before.

The car stopped and Mr Wammy got out of the driver's seat, he walked around to the back door of the car and opened it on the girl's side, leaving the boy to climb across the seats. She took one last look at the strange boy, just to see if he had moved at all since the last conversation attempt.

He was looking right at her, their eyes met for about two seconds before she turned away in a hurry and climbed out of the car. There was no reason for her haste, he was probably just waiting for her to move so he could get out, but there was something in his eyes...

She turned away from her thoughts to look at the house, it had to be at least four stories tall, with a driveway so long she couldn't see the road they had come from. She could smell roses somewhere, she knew what they were only because flowers weren't something that she had experience with so roses stood out as part of her limited knowledge.

There had to be at least five or six people in the front yard, young children like her, it seemed like they were having a wonderful time. Three boys were playing with a red rubber ball, kicking it back and fourth while a girl was dressing a doll up in a nice long dress, two more girls were playing on the swing in the shade of a large tree.

The girl couldn't smell London here, it had been a while since she couldn't. When she was four they had moved from Japan to London to avoid the police, she hadn't been this far away since then.

The group walked up to the front door, the eyes of the girl and her doll followed them, while the boys stopped playing to watch the new arrivals.

"Did you hear?" one of the boys whispered to the others, "there was only supposed to be one new kid, so that girl is a street pick up." the girl wasn't sure but she had a feeling that "street pick up" was a term used by the morning garbage men.

So far this gifted place didn't seem so impressive to her. They three walked through the front door and into the hallway, it had white walls and marble floors that the girl could see herself in, the curtains covering the windows were white lace that matched the rug on the floor.

"Wow," the girl said delighted at the answering echo "posh." she said more to play with the eco than actually comment.

The boy gave her a strange look. She resisted the urge to stick her tough out at him when he turned his back.

"Right now there is a shortage of roommates so the two of you..." Mr Wammy began to say and the girl heard a pounding in her ears, what was he saying? She focused hard. Please don't she thought, please don't put me in a room with him! "...Will each have your own room." the girl relaxed, that had been close.

"Your room will be on the third floor, second door to the right of the stairs," he continued gesturing toward the girl. "And yours will be on the fourth floor, any door, there are only three and there all empty."

Good, she thought, they weren't even on the same floor, and weren't there only four floors in the house? That made his floor the attic.

"Thank you, sir." she said to Mr Wammy. And turned to go to her new room.

The boy followed, she knew he just had to go the same way to get to his room but she still couldn't stop herself from wondering why weirdos kept following her.

At the fancy dark wood stair case which nicely complimented the white of each floor's main hallway, the girl made a point of cutting the boy off, so she could walk up first. He didn't complain at all so the gesture was wasted on him, and a new thought formed in her mind as she wondered if he was a mute.

The pair climbed up the stairs to the third floor, all the while dodging the many children who made a game of hitting the new kids with toy airplanes as often as the short trip allowed. The girl could fight back if she needed to but if she made a bad impression and got kicked out now she wouldn't have anywhere to go.

At the door to her room she turned back toward the stairs to see if the boy was looking at her again, he was already at the top of the stairs and hadn't looked back. There weren't as many kids on this floor, she could tell because all the occupied rooms had a sign with the names of the roommates on it so no one got lost.

Her door was blank, she was an unwelcome guest in this house, and didn't plan on staying long. She finished her thoughts and opened the door to her room, the walls were white, of course, and there was one window across the room from the door, the carpet was also white and the whole room was clean with a bunk bed on the left wall, white bedding, a desk in front of the window, brown, and a wardrobe on the right wall which was also brown.

There was a vase of roses on the desk, as well as a computer it was off but looked brand new. She moved into the room, and saw an empty bookcase beside the wardrobe it had been hidden from sight while she was by the door.

She had nothing but the brown wallet that she had taken from the hideout she put it in the wardrobe just so no one could find it without looking, then sat down on the bed she looked at the ceiling then the floor and finally she stood up and moved to the window.

She had to lean over the desk to see out it and in her attempt to gain a better view her elbow nudged the vase of roses on the desk, they didn't fall luckily, the vase looked expensive or at the very least not like the sort of thing she could replace. She noticed for the first time, a piece of paper attached to the vase with a piece of ribbon.

_Welcome To Wammy's_ it proudly proclaimed to her. Why would someone leave a vase of fresh flowers on the desk of a room that wasn't supposed to be occupied?

And why was that boy in the attic if there were plenty of rooms on this floor with no one in them?

Ugh! Not that boy again! What was it with him? Why couldn't she just get over him already?

Stupid, that's what this whole thing was, she should just wait until night then steal anything valuable she could carry and go back to London. She could make a living on her own.

She needed to think, that's what was wrong she hadn't been calm since this morning in the pit. She decided to find the source of the roses, that would calm her down for sure.

On her way to the stairs she had a crazy idea, all the doors in this place had a name plate right? And that boy had been expected, so she could go to the attic and see which door had a name plate, if she did anything here at all it would be that she would find out that boy's name.

She focused all her years of experience into being very quiet as she climbed the stairs, on her way up she expected to hit a squeaky step or something that would alert him to her existence, but none were there. This place must be really nice if there wasn't even a bad step leading to the attic. She tiptoed to the top of the staircase and saw three doors two on the left and one on the right of the stairs.

It was dark, and for once the hall wasn't white, it was an unpainted dark wood. She scanned the doors quickly for signs but there were none, maybe that boy hadn't been "tested" yet, Mr. Wammy had said something about that and how if you failed you couldn't stay here.

So this boy wasn't a permanent resident yet, ok, she thought, there's no way he can pass this "test" if I don't I mean he's a mute or something so I'll wait for him to fail, then I'll fail too and we'll be kicked out together, I can steal all I need, and because I'll act innocent he'll get blame while I get off clean, she had already gone down two flights of stairs at this point, yes, that's what I'll do, serves him right.

She usually wasn't like that, but this boy made her feel different then she had felt throughout her life and she didn't like it.

She walked through the halls of the bottom floor until she found a back door, it was a glass door so she looked through before she opened it as a force of habit. The three boys from before had moved their game to the back yard so they could stay in the rays of the setting sun.

She opened the door and walked out, all three boys lost track of the game and stared at her breaking into simultaneous fits of grinning and laughter. The first boy, who was the closest and the shortest, took a few steps forward he wore a long sleeved shirt the body of it was white but the sleeves were a greenish color, and long jeans, his hair was short and dark brown like his eyes.

"Hey, you," he shouted though he wasn't far away from her or his friends, "you new?" he asked,

"Yes, what's it to you?" the girl answered,

"You been tested?" he asked ignoring her question.

"Nope," she answered she seemed to be getting into a lot of pointless conversations lately.

"Oh, well when's it gonna happen then?" he asked.

"I don't know, soon I guess." she answered was that a question she was supposed to know? "What's on the test?" she asked.

"Deductive reasoning, code breaking, memorizing stuff, and a bunch of other things like math and reading and such..." the boy answered.

Uh-oh she thought. "So what do you have to score to stay?" she asked.

"Did you really talk to a _shinigami_?" he asked not answering her question.

"What?" she asked deciding to fame innocence this time.

"A shinigami, you should know, a god of death." he clarified "well, did you?"

"Nope, where did you hear that?" she said wanting the subject to drop.

"Your lying," he said matter of factly.

"No I'm not!" she shouted walking right up to him, his friends tensed, one of them even pushed the ball out of the way with his foot so he wouldn't trip over it.

They were waiting for her to make the first move, the one on the far left had shoulder length black hair and was wearing a red shirt with brown shorts, the one on the right had on a green shirt and a pair of long jeans like the first boy, he was by far the tallest and had hair that had messy spikes of brown and blonde mixed together.

The girl wasn't in the best of moods right now, so the fact that these three were trying to pick a fight on purpose, was the last thing she needed. But she needed to blow off some steam.

She balled her fist behind her back and struck the boy hard with it in the left cheek. He was knocked off balance by the force of the punch, but the other two boys were on her faster than blinking. The boy on the right dove at her arms out, meaning to knock her over but she had practice and easily sidestepped it, but the boy on the right was on to this and struck at the same time.

He almost had her but she moved just in time, the quick movement throwing her off balance. She was hit in the stomach by the first brown haired boy who had recovered with the ease of many fights.

Maybe this had been a mistake, she thought, and ran for it. She needed to find somewhere safe, and fast, or she was dead. The three boys ran after her with the speed and bulk of a well loaded freight train.

A large willow tree with many roots poking out of the ground, loomed in front of her like a lighthouse, as she sped toward it at a break neck pace.

The boys followed her but she had a bit of a lead, if she could just reach the tree she could do an old trick she had learned a while ago to lose ally dogs.

She was just about to the lowest branch of the tree when her foot caught on something in the grass. A tree root, she went tumbling forward into the tree, catching herself in time to avoid injury, but she had lost her lead.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The boy looked out his one window, watching the girl as she came running around from the side yard, she was being pursued. He turned and walked away from the open window, letting the curtain fall closed behind him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

She was dead the second they caught her, the three of them against one wasn't fair at all but she wouldn't mind if the odds would have been reversed. What a bad day this was turning out to be.

She sat in the crook of the roots hoping she would pass out or something, but the boys probably wouldn't let that happen. On the bright side the boy she had hit already had a good size bruise on his face, this made the girl smile even in the face of certain doom. Silently she wished him every bit of pain it caused.

The bruised boy walked up to her and went strait for her neck, but not as an attack, he seized the silver heart necklace and yanked on it, ignoring the girls cries of protest. The chain broke, it was thin after all, and the boy withdrew holding the necklace in his palm. "Give it back!" she cried and made a lunge for his outstretched hand.

He withdrew his hand at the last second pulling it just out of her reach as she fell to the ground.

"You know, it's wrong to pick on a little girl." a voice said from the right side of the group, all four of them turned to face the new arrival.

Standing in the shade of the tree, hands in pockets and messy hair blowing in the slight summer breeze, was the boy.

He was looking directly at the lead bully, with his black eyes.

"So, what of it?" the leader asked as he gave the signal for his boys to attack, they converged on the black-eyed boy like vultures. One boy grabbed him and roughly pulled his hands behind his back, while the other boy began punching him hard in the stomach.

He didn't stand a chance, and he didn't even bother to resist the barrage of punches that came at him.

The girl felt sorry for him and made a mental note to put flowers on his grave, but before she could decide what kind the leader turned back to her. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and aimed a punch at her face just as she had done to him.

He pulled his arm back, probably for dramatic effect, but before he got around to hitting her he was interrupted by a pale foot in his face, right at the base of his neck. In his shock he had lost his grip on the girl's shirt and her necklace.

The three boys were already running away by the time the girl had caught up with what had happened. The black haired boy bent over and picked up her silver heart necklace, handing it back to her he made sure to point out the weakness of the chain.

"Th-thank you," she forced out shock at both his skill in a fight and how he was speaking to her.

"No problem." he said, his voice was steady and showed no signs of pain from the blows he had received.

He turned to leave. "What's your name?" she asked she had to know, she had promised herself earlier.

"Lawliet." he said then went silent like he had just said a bad word. "What's yours?" he returned the question.

"Um... I...uh...don't have one..." she answered she hadn't been asked that in a while.

"Well, if you don't want to tell me..." he trailed off sounding suddenly like his puppy had died.

She thought fast, um... Hannah, Mary, Taylor... no she was Japanese, she needed a Japanese name, um... she answered with the first thing that came to her mind. "Yumi!" she shouted to the retreating figure.

He turned to her. "I like it." he said and kept walking toward the house.

She didn't want him to go yet, so she did something she wouldn't had condoned ten minutes ago, she chased after him.

"Can you read?" she asked he gave her a funny look like she had just asked him a really stupid question. "Yes, I can." he said.

"Could you teach me?" she asked him. "And maybe math too if you know any?" he was silent for a moment.

"Ok, I'll teach you, do you know the alphabet?" he asked as they walked back to the house together.

Suddenly she really wanted to pass that test, she thought that maybe, this wasn't a bad place to be, as long as she wasn't alone.

**author's note:** thanks for reading this far and thank you to my reviewers I didn't expect anyone to actually read this but I'm having a ton of fun writing it so I hope you enjoyed this and will enjoy future chapters I will write. Thank you .


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 4**

**Cram Session**

The two walked back through the house to the stairs, they passed the crowded halls in silence and then walked up the final staircase to the attic. Yumi, as she was now calling herself, didn't have to follow him but she chose to start learning her new skills now.

"So can you read at all?" he asked her without turning around.

"Yes, of course I can." she said, proud of herself, she could read important words that had been taught to her so she wouldn't get herself caught or killed.

Words like, closed, danger, open, beware, or caution, that way she could at least tell when not to cross a lawn or knock on a shop door, expecting business.

He wasn't impressed. "How well?" he asked.

"Not very." she answered with a sigh. He was sharp.

They came to the door on the right of the stairs and he opened the door to the dark room, the walls were probably dark wood with no paint. There was one bed but it wasn't a bunk bed like Yumi had expected.

The one window was covered in a thick dark cloth, and all the lights were off so the only illumination came through the open door. In the dim light Yumi could see a shape on the floor that must have been a computer, there was no desk and the wardrobe was wide open with no contents.

The book case was empty except for one thick volume, the tittle was worn so she couldn't have made it out even if it wasn't such a big word.

The boy crossed to the bed and sat down in a strange crouch.

"Why are you sitting that way?" Yumi asked before she could stop herself. He looked up at her and stared with a blank expression on his face, as if deep in thought about the question.

"I have to," he finally said, "if I don't sit this way, it makes deduction almost twice as difficult." he said with a cool expression like it was something she should have known already.

"Oh, ok then, I'll do it too." she said brightly as she closed the door and crossed to the bed. She sat herself across from the boy in a copy of his odd position. "So, can you teach me to read now?" she asked eager to learn so she could stay in the house.

"The first thing you should learn is the alphabet." he started as if that was the answer to her question.

"Ok, wait so how do I learn that?" she asked him. He crossed the room to the bookcase and pulled off the one volume, then returned to the bed and sat back down in his odd position.

He flipped to the first page and turned the book toward her. "This is the letter 'A'." he said pointing at a large mark near the top of the page. "It's the first letter of the alphabet." he continued, Yumi recognized it now, that mark was in words like c**a**ution, d**a**nger and bew**a**re. The boy went on to say how it was written and what sound it made when you said it out loud.

Then he went on to "B" the second letter of the alphabet, by the time the sun had set they had made it to "E" which Yumi learned made the sound like the end of her name, but looked different.

Right about then the children were called down to dinner, they walked down the stairs following the general current of children to the dinning hall where they took the farthest seats from the door and continued lessons while they ate. The meal was better then anything Yumi had ever had in her life.

There was turkey, steak, corn, potatoes, chicken, peas, bread, and rice. Yumi ate anything and everything she could grab from her seat without knocking over the book of letters.

It was when she stopped for a look at the letter "I" that she noticed the boy, Lawliet, hadn't touched any of his food. "Why aren't eating? Everything's delicious." she said worried for his health, he _was_ really skinny.

"I don't need to eat that." he said blankly. Yumi paid special attention to the fact that he had specified the dinner only as what he didn't need to eat.

"What do you want to eat then?" she asked jumping on her theory.

"I-" he started but at that exact moment a man came over with a cart filled with desserts, there were cakes, and pies, ice cream, chocolate, and sweet buns.

The boy's eyes widened with desire. He caught himself and covered his lust for the sugar but Yumi was quick.

"Anything?" the cart-man asked them.

The boy shook his head, but Yumi wasn't fooled. "Yes," she said to the cart-man. "All of it please." the man's eyes widened for a moment then he hid the shock putting on a face that made it seem a common request.

Without another word he started replacing the dinner plates with the desserts. When he had gone Yumi looked to the boy, he was staring at a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, Yumi took the hint.

"You can have some." she said, watching him carefully for his reaction. His face stayed smooth and impassive.

"No thank you." he said and tore his eyes from the sugar coated table.

So that was how he was going to be huh? She thought, ok then I'll just have to open fire on him. "Ok, more for me." she said with a sweet smile as she slowly reached for a slice of cake. She picked it up with her bare hands and broke of a piece that she bit into and chewed slowly, humming her approval.

Out of the corner of her eye she watched the boy who had now began to salivate in his lust for the treats. She ate the cake slowly watching the boy all the while, just waiting for him to break. "Ok," she said "lets keep going with the lesson." she purposely reached for one of the chocolate strawberries he had been eyeing, and brought it back right under his nose.

She pretended not to notice how much he wanted it as she popped it in her mouth, still watching him. She took a cherry and dipped it in the souse dripping off a Sunday. As he continued, shakily, through "K" she popped the cherry in her mouth, and pulled out the stem which she tied in a small knot.

The boy looked up. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"What?" she replied, she had him now.

"Tie that stem in a knot, how did you do it?" he asked her again.

"Oh, that, it's easy, just put it in your mouth and wrap it around your tough like this then twist, and tah-dah." she said as she demonstrated it for him again.

"Can I try?" he asked.

"Sure, you just need a cherry." she answered.

"Can I use one of yours?" he asked.

"Of course you can." she said and he reached for the plate of cherries. She didn't fail to notice how much he enjoyed the eating part.

He couldn't do it at first, and it took several tries to get it right, so by the time he could do it they were out of cherries.

"Cake?" she offered him as he was reviewing the knot in his last cherry stem.

He looked up and saw his mistake, in his eagerness to learn a new skill he had eaten her dessert just as he had said he wouldn't. He scowled at being tricked then decided that stopping now wouldn't take back the things he had already eaten.

"Yes, please." he said and accepted the slice of chocolate cake she had offered. She smiled at her victory and the pair continued their lessons between bites of dessert.

By the time they had finished their dessert and made it back to the attic room, Yumi had learned letters A-P and was starting to write them more neatly.

Her teacher was moving quickly, focusing more on the letters and the buildings of words then the words themselves. While the two were working in the boy's room they would slip questions for each other into their conversations.

By the time they had finished "S" ,which Yumi liked to write, they had both discovered several facts about each other.

Yumi had learned that Lawliet was seven years old, his birthday was on Halloween, and he had never brushed his hair before.

Lawliet had learned that Yumi had lived all her life with a man who's name she had never known, her dad had been in the mafia, and she was actually very intelligent.

The two worked late into the night then early into the morning, they discovered that they shared insomnia and could stay up as late as the wanted.

By the time the sun was an hour above the horizon they had finished the alphabet and had begun to make words out of the letters.

At noon they descended the stairs to hold their lessons in the garden, they sat in the shade of a tall tree, blocked from sight by the rose bushes on all sides. Yumi was learning quickly and by the time they had started math she could read most of the simpler words in the big book, which she now knew to be a "dictionary" Lawliet had said that reading the harder words would just take practice.

In math they started with addition, Yumi learned that quickly too because she could remember the little numbers on the money she stole. The lessons progressed quickly when she mentioned this connection to Lawliet, who after that began to use the money she had in the old wallet to teach her how to put the numbers together.

They had finished basic math by dinner, and that left them the whole night with no more lessons to work on, they both ate dessert that night and Yumi discovered that her new friend would only eat sweets and fruit.

They were just finishing their fork-sword fight over the last piece of cake, when a tall man in a long coat came over to their table, Lawliet was eating his cake happily as the man drew close. Once he had reached the table, Yumi recognized him as Mr Wammy.

He was still wearing the black coat over a nice suit but he had removed his hat revealing a full head of white hair.

"Children," he said as Lawliet looked up from his already depleted cake. "Tomorrow morning you will be tested, go to the office on the main floor at 8:00 and you will receive further instructions."

With that he walked away, Yumi's stomach twisted, she had forgotten all about the test during her time with Lawliet, of course she had only spent that time studying because if she failed the test and he passed then he would stay here and she would have to leave.

She stood up, and turned to leave the room. Lawliet looked up at her. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I have to study," she said and walked toward the door.

"I'll come too." he said and followed after her, leaving the remains of his cake behind.

They reached his room in two minutes flat, mostly to avoid the children in the second floor hall who insisted on throwing things at each other with no regard for the innocent people caught in the cross fire.

When they reached the room, Yumi went straight to the bed and started reading the dictionary one word at a time, while Lawliet turned on the computer for the first time, giving her just enough light to read by.

**author's note: **thank you for reading this far, and thank you for reviewing my story. I meant to post one chapter a week but this story has been coming out in a rush because I'm so motivated. This will be a long story but at this rate I'll be done soon, I've been writing usually one chapter a day. Thank you again and I will keep working on this in all my spare time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 5**

**Assessment**

Yumi woke to a voice chanting her name, she knew even without opening her eyes that it was Lawliet. He was using a tone that made it sound like he had been trying to wake her for a while, and had given up on success, but wanted to be able to say he had tried.

She opened her eyes to see his face over her, the room was still pitch black but she could see him clearly due to his pale skin.

He saw her open her eyes and backed up, climbing off the bed to stand on the floor by the computer. "You were asleep for a long time, and if we don't leave now, we wont have time to eat before the test." he said.

Yumi moaned in dismay, she really didn't want to take the test. As she stirred to get up she noticed the hard pillow she was laying on, but it wasn't a pillow. She had fallen asleep in the middle of her studies and as a result her head had wound up on top of the dictionary.

She glanced at the page she had left of on, the first word she saw was "zinc" she had made it almost all the way through the dictionary and had learned the definitions to all the big words on the pages she had read.

She closed the book and climbed off of Lawliet's bed, then followed him to the door. The pair walked down the stairs passing many children who were all converging on the double doors on each end of the hallways on all the floors. Yumi guest that the doors were classrooms. It was Monday now so the residence of Wammy's house would have classes to attend.

She wondered what classes she would take on the off chance that she could stay.

The two made it to the dinning room on the first floor and helped themselves to chocolate pancakes covered in whipped cream and strawberries.

After they had finished their breakfast Yumi and Lawliet headed for the office they had seen on the way in two days ago. The knocked politely on the door then pushed it open as a voice beckoned them inside.

"Hello" said the kind voice of Mr Wammy as they approached the large desk that sat in front of a window which had a perfect view of the front yard. The curtains on the windows were lace like in the entrance hall, the carpet on the floor was white and the walls were paneled in dark wood, the windows were all open even though the morning had a cold chill in the air, but there was lots of light in the room. To the right of the door there was an expensive looking vase on a dark wood table, it was filled with fresh flowers like the ones on her desk.

On the right wall there was a white door that stood out against the dark walls, Yumi didn't know where it led but she had a strange feeling they were going to find out.

Mr Wammy stood up and walked around the desk to stand to the right of the children, and in front of the door. "Every child who stays here is required to take this test in order to make certain that they are indeed gifted, or if they cannot stay here." he said "If you don't pass you won't be left out on the streets you'll only be taken back to London and placed in a different home."

Yumi was barely listening to the speech, she was attempting to remember all of the things she had learned in the last two days.

"Are you ready to take the test, then?" Mr Wammy asked them and they both nodded in unison. "Alright follow me." he said and crossed the room to the door on the right wall, that Yumi had seen.

He walked through without a backward glance, expecting the two children to follow. They did but before they could walk through the door Yumi stopped Lawliet. "Good luck," she said to him then they walked through the door to face the test.

It wasn't what Yumi had expected at all, in fact it wasn't even close. The room they were in was dark except for a table in the middle that was lit from above by a single light bulb. There were two chairs on the side of the table closest to the door and one chair on the opposite side.

Mr Wammy had seated himself in the one chair and motioned to the children to do the same. They took their seats after closing the door behind them, and faced Mr Wammy.

He began at once, "if the police receive a tip that a national bank is to be robbed by three men, but they have no date or time on the theft what is the wisest course of action for the police to take?" he asked, that wasn't what Yumi had expected at all and the question froze her mind completely.

Lawliet on the other hand didn't hesitate for a moment. "What day of the week did the tip come in on?" he asked back.

Mr Wammy seemed interested in the question. "Friday afternoon at three o'clock." he answered.

"Exactly three?"

"Yes,"

"Were there other crimes committed on Saturday nights recently?" he asked again.

Mr Wammy was now confused. "Yes," he decided "every other Saturday a bank had been robbed by the same three men," he said.

"Did this bank fall into that same pattern and were they robbed at the same time each occurrence, also were the other targets minor banks or other large establishments?"

The questions were coming from nowhere and Yumi couldn't keep up with his thoughts.

"Yes, it does fit the pattern, the banks were robbed at the exact same time in each instance and the other banks robbed were minor banks nothing on the scale of the current target." Mr Wammy answered him glancing a Yumi to see if she was taking this in or not.

"Then," Lawliet said, "the police would place three guards in the main bank lobby and two in the vault, over protective numbers would make the crime difficult, then patch the security camera's feed into an armored truck parked three blocks away. The surveillance team in the truck will watch all hallways and side rooms in the building, basically everywhere but the main vaults and lobby." he paused for breath. "The surveillance will begin twenty-four hours before the crime is meant to take place in order to watch anyone who might enter the building and hide until the crime is to be committed. Then on the night of the crime block all the doors with guards with the exception of one back door which is to be locked tight. When the theft is attempted the culprits would be in either the lobby or the vaults, so when the guards attempt to catch them they will escape through either the front door if their in the lobby or the back door if their in the vaults. The back lock would have no doubt been picked if they had entered that way, so they will run out through the open door, to be apprehended as they leave, but of course they won't all be together unless they want to get caught so the front door will be guarded also by undercover agents so as not to draw attention to the plan. Even if the police screw up and the thieves escape the whole thing will be caught on tape so they can be tracked down later."

Mr Wammy paused to take in the long explanation before moving on to the next question. "Three houses were broken into on the same day at the same time, analyzation of the scenes revealed that the same person's finger prints were left at each scene, is that person guilty?"

"Who's the person?" Yumi asked.

"A man by the name of, Edward Taylor who was at work at the time, with security tapes to prove it."

"Yes," Yumi said. "He's guilty, but he never went to any of the scenes."

"And how did you reach that conclusion?" Mr Wammy asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Easy," Yumi said "that's an old trick to avoid suspicion, one person hires two or more other people and gives them all a pair of white rubber gloves, like they use in hospitals, that kind of glove picks up finger prints really well then puts them on any surface they touch. While the employer stays somewhere that he would be seen by other people or caught on tape, the people he hired rob different houses in different areas at the exact same time, the house do have to be close enough together to be linked but not close enough to commute quickly between them. The hired people all wear gloves with the finger prints of the employer on them so the employer will be taken in as a suspect, which gives him a chance to show his alibi to the police. That's a safer way to do multiple jobs at once then just hiring people and hoping for the best, because if the men hired were to accidently leave their own finger prints then they could be caught and they could squeal on the employer. The way you can tell it's that kind of job is that all the break-ins start at the same time." she finished, she only knew that because she had planned one of those jobs once.

The two answered more questions, many of which were easy for them to figure out without stopping to think. Yumi was gaining confidence when the focus of the test changed.

Mr. Wammy complimented Yumi on her latest correct answer before he reached under the table and opened a briefcase the open case blocked it's contents for a moment before he closed it and handed them each a piece of paper.

The papers were obvious scans but the letter that the scan depicted was what worried Yumi it was something that she had to read herself. "This letter was found at the scene of a crime, it appears to be a suicide note but the blade used was missing. What do you deduce?" Mr Wammy asked.

Yumi was already trying to read the messy script of the letter, it wasn't neatly laid out like the dictionary, so it took a while to read, Lawliet was also silent. "Was this found on the body?" Yumi asked even though she knew it was a fake case she still wanted to put her already forming theory into play.

"Yes, it was on his chest."

"And where was the stab mark, was it bloody?"

"It was found over the stab mark which was on his chest..."

But Yumi cut him off. "That's odd though isn't it? If he stabbed himself wouldn't he at least have had the note in his hand? And also if it was suicide, it's unlikely that he would have had the strength left to hide the weapon after." she said

both of them were silent, waiting for her to continue.

"He shouldn't have been able to put the note over the hole before he died _and_ hide the weapon, which means he had to of been murdered by someone else, someone who had time to go in kill him then leave before anyone knew what had happened, was he in an apartment or somewhere else?"

Mr Wammy cleared his throat, "he was in his apartment at the time of death." he said.

"Then check security cameras for everyone who entered and left the building that day. It doesn't matter who they were seeing or if they live there, just everyone."

Yumi waited for the two to say something, but both were silent, then Lawliet began to take up the case as well, plotting out different ways that the suspect could be forced out and captured, based on Yumi's theories.

Five minutes later the pair left the office, tired and mentally taxed, they walked in silence, up the stairs to Yumi's room first, she hadn't been there at all since they had started math, once inside the door with no way for the sound to escape the walls of the room, Yumi squealed in joy.

"We can stay! We can stay!" she chanted as she attempted to force Lawliet to join her in her gleeful dance around the room.

He refused to move even when she pulled his hands toward the center of the room with all her might. "What's wrong?" she finally asked.

"I finally found what I want to do with my life." he answered.

"What?" she didn't see how that was a bad thing but she was a curious person.

"I want to be a detective" he said looking at her for the first time since the last question.

"Why is that bad?" she asked.

"It's not you just thought I was answering you question, when really it wasn't related at all." he answered.

"Oh, right" she said."Well if you want to be a detective, then so will I." she said in an upbeat tone as they walked up the stairs to his room.

**author's note:** thank you again for reading this far. I had a bit of trouble with the questions but I tried my best. And incase you didn't notice I just want to point out that Yumi solved the last question without having to actually read the letter. Thank you again and sorry if anyone's ooc.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 6**

**News Flash**

Yumi and Lawliet had been assigned to the third floor classroom to the left of the stairs, classes started at eight o'clock exactly but it was perfectly acceptable to arrive early. Which many children did as the classrooms were the only rooms in the house with television sets.

There was minimal adult supervision in the classrooms before the lessons started, so Yumi expected children's shows that were barely audible over the noise of a full class.

In part, she was right, there was lots of noise on the left side of the room as children ran around and threw things at others, but the tv on that side and on the other were both tuned in to the morning news. This could have been because the teachers hid the remote but a second glance revealed it to be in the lap of a twelve year old boy.

All of the children on the right side of the room were silently watching the news as the results of recent police cases were announced, most of the kids watching were ten to twelve years old but there were also a few who seemed to be younger then eight years old.

Why would they be so interested in the news?

Yumi walked over to the tv and strained to hear it over the noise on the left side of the room, now that she was closer she could tell that the group was muttering softly to one another trying to keep their voices low so they wouldn't disturb the others watching the program.

She focused on the case that was now being announced, the muttering increased as the culprit was shown. "I knew it was him," said one boy to another.

"Yeah, I know you told me, but he seemed so innocent." the second boy answered.

There were other people saying similar things, proving that they had been right or that they had not heard things right. Some even contradicted the police decisions over different cases.

After that case was finished Yumi and Lawliet crossed to the back of the room so they could take seats at a distance from the other children, the class went silent at exactly eight o'clock when the teacher walked in.

Everyone's undivided attention was on the teacher, who was a tall man with thinning hair and a brown suit, he wore thick glasses and had a pinkish tint to his skin as though he had run all the way here. His tie was striped with pink and brown that matched his suit.

Yumi watched him intently as he crossed to the tv she assumed he would turn it off before starting the lesson, Yumi had never been to school before but that was they way she had heard it was conducted.

The teacher reached the tv set and turned to the class not even touching the power button, "Now," he said. "Today's cases were: K, D, S, and T." Yumi didn't understand that at all.

"Um, sir?" she said raising her hand as she had seen done in movies, "What does that mean?"

"Oh, I suppose then, that you two are the new arrivals?" the teacher asked.

"Yes sir." Yumi answered.

"Well, then I'll explain, each case a student here takes on is given a letter representation, you can chose to peruse the case on your own or with a group, when the results are broadcast then you receive a grade on weather you were correct or not." he concluded.

"So then you try to solve the case the same way as the police?" she asked.

"No, you attempt to solve the case _for_ the police." the teacher clarified.

"Wait... what?"

The class giggled at her confusion.

"Here at Wammy's we provide assistance to the local law enforcement agencies." he said and motioned for her to sit back down.

She did but her curiosity was not satisfied. However she let the subject drop.

"So, as I was saying, all cases were properly solved, including the case which was solved by our new students, case T." the teacher said.

"Now onto math, please take out you workbooks and turn to page fifty-three..."

The rest of the class went by in a rush as Yumi considered the possibility that she and Lawliet had solved a case, as she new that they were the "new students" mentioned.

After class she caught the teacher on the way out of the room and asked him about the case.

"All, records of the cases are kept in the main office, if you want to know about past works then you will have to ask Mr Wammy." the teacher said and walked away.

Yumi sprinted to the front office, and stopped just in time to avoid crashing into the door, Lawliet trailed behind her and ran into her back as she braked. She braced her hands against the door so she wouldn't pound into it, but it was ajar. The two went flying through as the door swung open, and fell in a heap on the floor.

When Yumi looked up, the silhouette of Mr Wammy was hovering over them. They tried in vain to right themselves for several minutes before Lawliet finally rolled over onto the floor allowing Yumi to stand.

"Can I help you?" Mr Wammy asked as they brushed themselves off.

"Yes, is that test you gave us yesterday, the last question I mean, was that... uh... a real case?" Yumi asked him in reply.

"Yes it was, that case was considered suicide until you pointed out the flaw in that assumption, the culprit has been apprehended and is now facing trial for murder." he said calmly. "The police send you their thanks for your assistance in the matter."

"Oh..." Yumi's mind went blank.

"A real case?" Lawliet asked, reminding Yumi he was there.

"Yes, and the plan of capture you came up with worked perfectly, I might add." Mr Wammy smiled at the last few words.

"A real case..." Lawliet mumbled to himself.

"So does everyone here solve cases?" Yumi asked.

"No, only those who wish to pursue detective work in the future solve the cases, the others take up other hobbies in their spare time." he answered, which explained the fact that only half of the class had watched the case results that morning.

"Alright, well I'm... uh... I mean thank you for your time." Yumi said and walked off, Lawliet followed after a minute.

"I want to help solve more cases." he said, after a silent walk back to his room.

"Ok, me too, I think we can get another case tomorrow in class, and we can work on it together." Yumi said brightening at the thought of working with her friend on his new dream.

That night the two stayed up looking at different cases online then seeing if they could try to solve them without looking at the results, they almost always got them right.

When the sun rose, the two went to the dinning room and ate a quick breakfast before, heading to class on the third floor.

The teacher read out the case results at the beginning of class then asked if anyone wanted to take on a case, Yumi and Lawliet both raised their hands and told him they were working as a pair, he wrote their names down, then handed them a case file.

After class they went strait to Yumi's room, as it was closer, and opened the file, after reading the information they split up and looked at it from different angles. Yumi had more knowledge of the various criminal tricks that could have been employed, while Lawliet researched the more important details on the computer.

After about three hours they both had a breakthrough at the same moment, Lawliet had discovered a list of past crimes that matched the specs of this one, and Yumi had remembered an old trick of the trade.

After sharing their information they made up three different plans to implement in order to catch the culprit red handed, they went to class the next day and handed in the completed file with a six page packet of their plans and notes, written by Yumi.

The teacher looked at them for a minute before smiling slightly. "You broke the record. You solved this case in almost half the time as the shortest recorded completion, if this is correct then you will have set a new record." he said almost in confusion as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that the two young new arrivals had solved a case so quickly.

"When will we get the results?" Yumi asked.

"That depends on how quickly the police act on your theories. Your code is case L." with that he turned to the rest of the class and started the lesson.

The math part of class made more sense to Yumi with each day as she worked hard to improve her abilities in the subject.

After the case notes she had written the English part of class became easier too.

She could now read almost as well as Lawliet who seemed completely bored in both English and math.

**author's note:** sorry this chapter is so short I was running out of things to write about, thanks again for reading this far and thank you to my reviewers. I hope you like it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 7**

**A Calling**

For the next few days Yumi and Lawliet joined the group watching the morning news for the result of their casework.

After the news they would strain their ears to hear the teacher's announcement about the cases that had been solved, though this was never necessary to actually hear his voice. With each passing day they became more and more on edge, not wanting to take another case until they received results for the first.

On the fifth day of the morning news observance they finally found what they were waiting for.

"..._and so the culprit was apprehended at midnight last night, while attempting a fourteenth murder to follow in the chain of the others,_"

"_Is there any comment from the detective who solved the case?_"

"_Like many other tough cases that seemed to be solved not long after they get out of hands, there is no name or file on the solver but thanks is still extended to..._"

"Wait, who did that one, I don't remember working on it." said one boy in the middle of the row.

"I don't know, but whoever they are they got it done faster then anyone else so far, a new record now that its been proved right." answered a neighboring boy.

They had been right, Yumi looked over at Lawliet who was staring blankly at the television set, in a strange kind of trance.

A moment later the teacher walked in, and class started, when he announced the cases that had been solved and those that had been correct, Yumi was proud to hear that case L was among them.

"...and on that note," the teacher said as he looked up from his list of cases. "Case L was recently solved in twenty-two hours and fourteen minutes, which is sixteen hours and forty-three minutes faster then the previous record."

The class clapped at the achievement while attempting to be discreet about whispering things like "I could have done it faster," and "So what, it was an easy case." to their friends.

It was then that a paper ball bounced off the side of Yumi's head, as she turned to face the culprit, she was confronted with a young blond boy maybe eleven or twelve years old.

"Stand up. Stand up, you broke the record." he whispered.

She elbowed Lawliet and told him the boys instructions, just as the teacher asked for the team who had solved the case to stand.

The two stood and faced the class, most of the younger kids showed evident shock at the two little kids who had just broken the case time record, while the older kids tried to hide their disapproval of being beaten by the two.

When the clapping died out Yumi and Lawliet sat back down and took out their books like everyone else, to begin the lesson.

After class the two asked the teacher for another case and he supplied one without much conversation on the subject.

They went strait to the kitchen and looked around through the cupboards for any leftover cake, when they came up empty-handed Yumi had an idea.

"Why don't we make some cake?" she suggested the her friend who gave her a funny look.

"Because, we don't know how to cook." he answered flatly.

"I'm sure they have directions, Lawliet, like in the math book when they show you how to do it first." she countered, she wanted to try.

"Fine but I think we should-..." he started but Yumi gave him a pout that perfectly portrayed the thought, "don't you dare ruin my fun." he didn't want to disobey that suggestion for fear of consequences. "... um... make chocolate cake?" he finished turning it into a question.

"Ok," she said brightening instantly.

And with that they started, Lawliet had just located the cookbook when he turned to see that Yumi had already poured several ingredients into a bowl.

Flour was already covering the counter top by the time he could get across the room to watch Yumi break three eggs then try to put them in the bowl without letting the shells fall in.

Within two minutes sugar, vegetable oil, chocolate souse, and water had also made it in, over the constant complaining of Lawliet who in the end decided to just sit back and watch his friend attempt to cook.

He sat in a chair in the corner while she worked.

As Yumi stirred the ingredients into a semi-thick creamy substance she began to hum one of the few songs she knew, it was an old song that she had learned from standing out side the music store in Japan and had practiced it every once in a while so she didn't forget.

She saw what must have been an oven in the corner across the room from where Lawliet had sat. she tried to remember what she had seen the workers in her favorite bakery do at this part of the job, she started reading the buttons on the oven until she found the heating button that was supposed to turn it on. After she pushed it she waited a few minutes for it to warm up, then put her cake batter inside, being careful not to burn her fingers.

Then she went back to the counter in the middle of the room and looked over the remains of her ingredients. There was a big bag of sugar, an empty carton that had once contained eggs, a pitcher she had used for water, a large sack of flour and numerous other things that she did not want to clean up.

A funny idea struck her as she was watching Lawliet sitting silently in his corner. She took a hand full of flour and called his attention, then she quickly threw the flour as he looked up at her, it hit him in two seconds flat, giving him just enough time to close his eyes.

She laughed at his befuddlement before he snapped out of it and responded, he leapt across the room and grabbed a hand full of flour to throw at her, she ducked behind the counter as a cloud of white came flying at her, then jumped up onto the table and tried to grab more flour from the sack.

As she climbed on her foot knocked over the bag of sugar and it's white contents tumbled in a wave over the counter top and onto the floor. She didn't spare it a second glance as Lawliet grabbed more flour, trying to hit Yumi from his low vantage point. While she tried to hit him from above.

Being analytically gifted Lawliet knew right away the this situation was not in his favor, so he tried to climb onto the counter as well, just as Yumi threw more flour at him. He closed his eyes to avoid the sting of the flour and in doing so he lost his grip on the side of the counter.

As he fell back he reached out for support, and grabbed onto Yumi's ankle. She slid forward on the mess of suga and as she was falling she tried to grab something. Her hand found the flour bag and it was dragged down on top of the falling children.

As the flour cloud cleared the oven timer went off. Yumi climbed off of Lawliet and went to the oven, Lawliet lay on the floor staring at the ceiling. Yumi pulled the cake out of the oven and put it on the table to cool.

Several minutes went by. Lawliet did not move. Yumi waited for the cake to cool.

Finally the cake reached a temperature that Yumi deemed acceptable for eating. She cut out two slices and put them on two plates, then she walked over to Lawliet who was still staring at the ceiling.

She sat down next to him and put the plate of cake on his stomach, he didn't stir as she began to eat. His steady breathing elevated the plate, Yumi finished her cake and looked at him. He still hadn't eaten any.

"You know its not that bad, you could at least be polite and try some." she said with a frown.

"Your all white." he said in a monotone voice, even though Yumi would have smiled in his position his face remained blank.

They stared at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing, Lawliet's cake bounced up and down as he laughed.

"Your... white... too!" Yumi said through her laughter.

When they had calmed down, Lawliet finally sat up and started eating his cake.

The sudden movement caused a cloud of flour to fall off his hair, and land mostly on his plate.

"To much flour." he critiqued as he ate the homemade cake.

"Yeah well you try and do better." Yumi said rolling her eyes as they began to laugh again.

After they had both finished their cake, the two white children sat against the counter and stared at the ceiling. Yumi smiled, she was happy that she could spend time with Lawliet even when they weren't thinking about casework.

"You know," she started, "I'm kind of jealous of you, Lawliet..."

"Jealous, why?" he asked.

"You know what you want to be when you grow up but I haven't found something I'm good at yet." she answered.

"I don't know, you seem to have a calling for cake." he said smiling at her mockingly.

"Ha ha." she joked as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Or, if that's not it, you can always do detective work with me." he said. "I think we make a good team."

Yumi just smiled at herself. She knew that she would follow Lawliet wherever he went, or whatever he did.

"Ok, so now I know what I'll do too." she said as she continued to stare at the ceiling, though she had never really seen it to begin with. The whole time she had been looking at her life, things that had happened to her throughout her time with Kyu, the man who had raised her, Mr. Wammy, the teacher, the three boys who had attacked her the first day here.

And Lawliet. He was the only friend she had ever had and she hoped, even though she didn't seem to be in any danger of losing him, that he would always be there for her.

She looked over at him and wondered what he was seeing, she knew it must have been something important, so she didn't ask. Sometimes important things have to be mulled over alone.

**author's note:** I had fun writing this chapter, especially the flour fight. Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing I hoped you like my story.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 8**

**Happy Birthday**

It was three weeks until Yumi's seventh birthday.

She tapped her pencil against the wood of her desk, as her thoughts wandered, she had never celebrated her birthday before so she wasn't too excited for it to arrive. Lawliet looked up from their latest case file.

She hadn't told him about her birthday, she was always helping him with the constant stream of cases that they took on. Besides, even if she had told him the most she would receive would be a "happy birthday" before he would go back to whatever case he was focusing on.

No, there was no point in mentioning it to him.

"Yumi... Yumi?" he asked her she was too distracted to hear the first few times he had asked.

"Huh, what?" she asked snapping back to life.

"I said your pencil broke." he repeated.

Yumi stopped tapping the broken pencil on the desk. "Oops," she said and went to pick up the other half which had flown off the table.

They had decided to work on the case in the class room that day, because they could watch the news at the same time.

As Yumi sat back down Lawliet looked at her carefully. "You seem distracted, is everything ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine just...um... focusing." she said trying to avoid his gaze.

He didn't buy it, she seemed too out of it. "If it's about the case, were almost done, you shouldn't worry it's not hard." he said in an attempt to cheer her up.

The case he was referring to, was an elaborate theft and murder in central London, the police had no leads and were on the second month of being completely stumped. Lawliet and Yumi had taken about six minutes to find a vital suspect, they were almost done.

"No, it's not the case..." she trailed off realizing that he had been testing her.

"Oh, then what is it?" he asked politely, by saying it wasn't the case she had confirmed that something was wrong after all.

"Nothing, I said." she tried to divide his attention, "um... you sure the drop off point was three miles south and not four?"

"Yes I'm sure, and it was you who came to the three mile conclusion." he said, not distracted at all.

Dang. "Well I could have gotten it wrong." she said.

"No, I trust you, now what is it?" he wasn't giving up yet.

"Um... I uh... I mean you...oh fine!" she finally snapped. Lawliet waited patiently for the rest of her sentence. "Ok next Friday is my seventh birthday." she said and turned away. How dare he worm it out of her like that!

"Your birthday? That's what was bothering you?" he asked.

"Yes my birthday, I..." at that moment the news broke through the conversation.

"_...and so the items were returned, and the thief was taken into custody yesterday. The case was finally broken by the same anonymous source as the recent theft and murder cases across London..._" The news woman said then continued on to weather.

"Well I guess that makes twenty-four." Yumi said counting up the current number of solved cases. The score stood at: correct cases: twenty-four. Incorrect: zero.

"Yes, that's one more for the books, isn't it?" Lawliet answered with a rectorial question. The two had been solving cases nonstop since their first success, the news now announced their cases as a separate segment from the others as the numbers piled up.

It had been four months since their first case and they were now respected members of the detective group at Wammy's house.

Yumi was glad about the change of subject and hoped that he wouldn't remember her birthday. They continued to work until the case was finished then the two children left the file on the teacher's desk and walked out of the room.

After a few hours of computer research in Lawliet's room the two headed down stairs to the dining hall, and ate a sugary dinner while Yumi thought about having to work through her past birthdays.

Lawliet turned to her suddenly and looked her in the eyes. "Do you hear them?" he asked but Yumi couldn't hear anything over the noise of the dining hall.

"Hear what?" she asked.

"The bells." he answered with a sad tone in his voice.

Yumi strained her ears until her head started hurting but she still heard nothing. "No, I can't hear any bells." she said.

Lawliet got up and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Yumi asked as she followed him.

"To listen." he said without turning to face her.

She followed him to the front yard and had to stop mid stride to avoid running into him.

He was standing with his back to her listening to an unknown sound, Yumi strained again to hear it. This time she was met with success as a deep booming church-bell rang through her. It was probably from a wedding, she thought and then she wondered how Lawliet had heard it inside.

They stood in the driveway for a long time listening to the sound of either great joy, or great sorrow. Then the bell stopped ringing. They stood for a few minutes waiting for the noise to reappear but it didn't come back.

"Lets go back inside." Yumi said as a shiver rippled through her.

"Ok." Lawliet answered and they walked back to the house.

It had to of been at least two weeks later when they were called into the office. Mr Wammy sat behind the dark wood desk and watched them take their seats.

"If I've been informed correctly, then the two of you have solved more cases correctly in the last four months then the police agency has. Due to this fact I believe that a reward is necessary." he said, smiling at them.

"A reward?" Yumi asked she had never considered that they could be rewarded for their work.

"Yes, and I believe the two of you should choose what it will be." Mr Wammy said.

They thought for a moment, then Lawliet looked at Yumi and seemed to decide on the matter.

"What about a trip to town?" he suggested.

"A trip to town? Ok sounds fun." Yumi said smiling she hadn't left Wammy's house since the first day here so going to town sounded wonderful to her.

They both looked at Mr Wammy for approval. "Alright a trip to town, then how about one week from today?" he said to them.

"Ok." Lawliet answered but Yumi was silent, one week from then was her birthday.

As Yumi and Lawliet walked out of Mr Wammy's office, Yumi wondered if her friend had really forgotten her birthday.

Yes, she decided after looking at him for several seconds, he has.

"Why are you staring at me?" he asked her on the way up the second flight of stairs. "You could have said something if you didn't want to go to town, I mean we can still ask for something else." he tried to clarify.

"Oh, no I want to go into town, I was just thinking." she said quickly, it was better that she didn't remind him of her birthday.

When they reached Lawliet's room they went to sit in the two wooden chairs that had been brought up a while ago. Yumi was trying to forget her birthday, and Lawliet was trying to figure out what was wrong.

They sat silently absorbed in their own thoughts for many minutes when finally the silence was broken, "I was wondering, do you have any... um cookies left over from dinner?" Yumi had to pull out of her real question as Lawliet looked up at her, she couldn't bear to ask him that.

"No, I don't, besides, if I had taken cookies from dinner you would have seen them on our way up." he said flatly.

"Oh, I guess your right." she said.

News of their reward spread like wild fire and soon the whole house was jealous of them. They didn't really notice though, they worked harder then ever in the next week, taking on cases that most of the older kids couldn't solve. Then finally the day of the trip arrived.

Yumi had slept in Lawliet's room again so they could work on the case through the night. When the sun rose they were already awake and waiting by the front door.

Mr Wammy loaded them into the car and started to drive. Yumi thought of the last time she had been in that car, she and Lawliet had just met and weren't getting along at all, she thought he was rude and annoying back then, it seemed far away now as she sat in the car with her best friend in the world.

After about an hour's drive the black car pulled through the streets of London, they parked in front of a busy shopping district, and got out.

Mr Wammy made it clear that they were to be back at the car by six o'clock that evening then went off to buy some coffee and an iced bun.

The children stood in the street with the large allowance they had been given for shopping. After a few moments they walked toward an ice cream shop to spend some of their money.

It was the same shop they had gotten ice cream from the first day, and they had a lot of fun trying to order exactly what they had gotten then, because neither could remember all the flavors they had eaten.

After that the two split up. It was hard at first for Yumi to be away from Lawliet after so long a time. They had always been together since that first day and it felt strange to be alone for a while.

Yumi's eyes were drawn to a shop where many expensive looking necklaces and other jewelry was being displayed. She walked up to the front window and gazed at a perfectly round and shiny silver bracelet, it looked plain but to her it was beautiful.

She read the tag through the glass she could afford it with the money she had been given but she knew she didn't need it and could find better things to do with the money.

She looked back at the shop again then walked off, through the streets she followed the familiar path of cobble stones to the only place in London that she could always find.

The wooden latter was still there even after four months of abandonment. She climbed slowly, her feet remembering to skip the first and second rung, because they wouldn't hold her weight.

At the top there were a couple of things that she expected but didn't see. First: the money that had been left there, second: Kyu, she thought she would see him again even though she had sent him away, and third: the man. He was gone too probably for good, he was a murderer, and she understood that now more then she had before.

Her gate was slow and thoughtful as she returned to the square. Today was her birthday, which meant she was seven years old, and she wasn't with the man to tell him. He had never celebrated her birthday, and got angry if she brought it up, so she had kept track of her age alone. Now though she could tell anyone she wanted and celebrate if she felt like it.

But she didn't feel happy and knew that Lawliet wouldn't really care much even if she said something about it to him.

She didn't see him for the rest of the day as she went from shop to shop. She bought some of her favorite taffies and an iced bun like she use to and a sketchbook that she had always wanted though she couldn't really do much with it, she bought some pencils that came in all different colors and a normal pencil that she could keep for herself.

She had lots of money left over by the time it was six o'clock and she hadn't bought anything really important. She regretted not spending the money on more important things as she walked back to the car.

Lawliet was already inside, so she slid in next to him and stared out the window on the way back to Wammy's. When they reached the house Yumi went back to her own room, she decided not to work with Lawliet that night, though she wasn't sure why.

She lay in bed and stared at the ceiling while she tried to go to sleep.

"Happy birthday, to me..."

She sang under her breath as she closed her eyes.

Then she heard the door open slightly, a shaft of light pierced the floor of her room then it was blocked out as a figure slipped in and the door was closed again.

She had expected it to be someone who maybe shared a room and had been sleeping in her's because they wanted privacy and she was always in Lawliet's room at night, so she was shocked when a hand lightly brushed her forehead.

"Yumi?" a voice asked she opened her eyes and looked up into the slightly pinkish face of her friend he seemed to be blushing brightly even in the black of the room.

"Uh... um... uh..." she had never seen him struggle for words like this before.

"Did you solve it?" she asked him trying not to sound annoyed at being disturbed, if he told her fast she may still have time to go to sleep.

"Um... no I-uh-haven't been working on it because, well..." this was getting weird, he was having trouble with his English and not working?

"Um... here I got you something," he said as he produced something from his pocket and held it out. "Happy birthday, Yumi."

He remembered! She took the small wrapped thing from him and muttered her thanks, still in shock. She opened the paper carefully, and thought to herself that Lawliet had wrapped it on his own, she could tell because it was wrapped more with tape then paper.

She finally opened one side of the gift and something glittered in her hand, the silver bracelet.

"I, um.. Well, I saw you looking at it and thought you wanted it so..." he seemed embarrassed by his choice.

"Lawliet..." she started but she couldn't finish, his expression grew worried when her sentence didn't follow his name. "Thank you!" she said as she threw herself on him in a hug, his face turned from gentle pink to bright red when he found himself unable to move away in time.

Yumi continued to thank him as she hung there around his neck, then with a final sniff of gratitude she unfolded her arms and moved away, he sat frozen for a minute as the shock wore off then, "yo-your welcome." he answered her.

Then he got up and left the room, he hadn't forgotten at all, Yumi thought as the door closed, he just wanted to celebrate it with a gift.

**author's note:** this took me a while to write and it didn't help that I didn't write all weekend but here it is. Thanks for reading and thank you to all my reviewers. I will post every day during the week like I have been doing but I may not always post weekend chapters. Thank you again for reading.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 9**

**Two Years Later**

A nine-year-old Yumi lay on her back in the shade of the rose bushes, she watched clouds pass across the sky and thought about how rare peaceful moments like this were.

Her hair was now halfway down her back and she hadn't tied it back since her first day at Wammy's, her steel grey eyes closed as she let a soft cool breeze sweep over her pale face. She didn't get to go outside much anymore so her skin had lost it's former tan.

She wore a white thin strap tank-top instead of her old button up shirt, and she now wore a short black skirt that she had bought a year ago on a trip to London. The silver bracelet she had received for her sixth birthday glittered in the sunlight, the silver heart necklace she got from her mother matched the silver shine.

Her feet were bare and she wasn't in a hurry to change that, but she did own a pair of flip-flops for when she went out.

A shadow passed over her and she opened her eyes to see her friend Lawliet blocking her sun. he had developed the beginnings of bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, Yumi slept just as little as he did but her face remained clear of the light bruise looking shadows.

"What is it?" she asked he had given her time alone while he finished up the final work on their latest case.

"The case is done." he said as if that in itself was worth tracking her down.

"Oh did you already get a new one?" she asked, she was glad that they could work together on the cases but a break, much less a chance to go outside, was a rare blessing that she didn't want interrupted.

"No, not yet I wanted to tell you first." he said looking at the ground beside her, she took the hint.

"You want to join me?" she asked, Lawliet hated stating things outright and asking permission to do things that he wasn't the first to think of.

"Yes, thank you." he said and lay down next to her.

His black messy hair had grown slightly longer and he hadn't bothered to buy new clothes like she had so he looked even more disheveled then he had three years ago.

The two stared up at the sky, it was early October so the leaves were falling and the sky seemed greyer then usual but today the sky had been clear.

Also October was Lawliet's birthday month, but because his birthday wasn't until the thirty first and Yumi's birthday was one month earlier, the two of them were currently both nine years old.

Yumi enjoyed the one time a year when she was the same age as her best friend, because it made her feel older for some reason.

"I think the clouds are coming back." Lawliet pointed out after a few minutes, but Yumi didn't want to go in yet.

"So what cases do you think they have for us?" she asked him to change the subject from the weather.

"I'm not sure, but I don't was to do another embezzlement case, they're to easy." he had been picky about the cases they took on lately, counting out sections of cases that he wouldn't solve, or even consider. They had narrowed it down to either murder or grand theft.

The clouds passed overhead as they lay in silence.

Before they knew it, rain was pouring from the sky and the two hurried to reach the doors of Wammy's house. They were both soaked when they got to Lawliet's room, so Yumi went back down stairs to gather some towels from the laundry room.

When she got back, Lawliet had hung his shirt from the ceiling so it could drip dry, and was wrapped in his blanket, Yumi walked over and sat down. She handed him a towel then wrapped another around her wet hair.

"Thanks, Yumi." Lawliet said as he began to dry himself off.

Yumi began to say something but was interrupted by a sneeze, she wiped her face dry with the towel then tried not to sneeze again, she failed.

"Are you getting a cold?" Lawliet asked, he seemed worried.

"A cold? Maybe." Yumi answered while trying to remember weather or not she had been sick in the past, nothing came to mind.

"You should lie down then." Lawliet said expertly, but he really had no idea what to do.

"Ok I will." Yumi said and got up to go to her room.

"I'll get some soup and maybe some hot chocolate, with marshmallows and whipped cream and sprinkles..." Lawliet trailed off imagining all the sugary cures for the illness, Yumi went to her own room.

As she lay in her bed Yumi coughed and sneezed, she was surprised that the cold had come on so quickly, though she had taken a while to get out of her wet clothes.

A moment later Lawliet came in with a tray, Yumi was embarrassed about having to be waited on like that. He set the tray down on the desk, then took a mug filled to the brim with whipped cream and covered with chocolate souse and sprinkles, he handed it to Yumi and took the other for himself.

The mug was hot so Yumi had to balance it on her stomach while she blew on her hands to cool them down. Lawliet met similar troubles with his drink, nearly dropping it on the floor in his haste to save his hands.

Once the hot chocolate had cooled down to a bearable point they drank it in silence, broken only by Yumi's occasional sneezing. The drink tasted good, it was still warm but the whipped cream helped cool it down.

"How are you feeling?" Lawliet asked her after he drained the last of his mug.

"Ok." Yumi tried to say but was interrupted by a fit of coughing.

"You can't work like this." Lawliet said his mind turning back to the constant stream of cases they had to solve.

"Yes I can." Yumi insisted, she didn't want Lawliet to think she was useless while she was sick.

"Well you can't go to class, and you can't reach your computer. You will have to stay in bed and get lots of rest." Yumi was sure he was quoting from a book, having never taken care of the sick before.

"But, if you want, I can bring class work and cases here after lessons so you can help." he said compromising with her.

"Ok, I'll stay here and still help you while I'm sick." Yumi summarized his plan.

"Fine, now eat your soup." Lawliet said, he was trying to learn the ancient art of spoon-feeding Yumi the soup because she sneezed and coughed to much to hold the bowl steady on her own.

She protested his help at first but gave up her argument after the fourth spoonful.

Lawliet continued to bring her food three times a day and worked on the new cases on her computer, while she helped him from her bed. In a week's time, Yumi was back on her feet and began attending her classes again.

They went back to working on cases in Lawliet's room so things seemed to be normal again, they solved the new cases faster then ever, breaking their previous record by three hours and twelve minutes.

They were the most reliable detectives at Wammy's solving the hardest cases that they could get in less time then the other residents, they sat in the back of the class room and barely listened to the teacher during math and English. The other children were jealous of them, but still showed them respect as detectives.

They sat in the front of the crowd of news watchers in the morning even though they already knew that the cases were solved correctly.

While the other children were picking aliases, Yumi and Lawliet just worked.

The alias trend was stared by a boy who had given everyone at Wammy's a fake name to protect his identity from "enemies he hadn't made yet" the other children saw sense in that and before a week had passed everyone in the house had a fake name.

Yumi didn't need one, because she didn't have a name to protect, but Lawliet didn't even consider it, saying the whole thing was silly.

The rain continued through the next few weeks and by the time there was a break in the storms the residents of Wammy's were preparing for Halloween, decorations were going up and children were trying to chose what to dress up as to celebrate the holiday.

Yumi however, was looking forward to something else entirely.

**author's note:** sorry short chapter. Thanks for reading this far and thanks for reviewing. Most people should know what she's looking forward to but if you don't I think I mentioned it in an earlier chapter. If not then wait and see or look it up. I'll try to update tomorrow. Thank you.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 10**

**A Walk in the Park**

"The park?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It stopped raining."

"That's not a good reason."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is, please!"

"No we have more work to do."

"But, breaks are good for your health."

"Yes but a break and a trip aren't the same thing."

"Come on PLEASE!"

Lawliet and Yumi had been arguing over this for the past hour and both were tiring of the subject, still neither would give in.

"We've been working for several days without a break, so why can't we go to the park today?" Yumi pouted.

"Because the case isn't solved yet." Lawliet answered.

"Well I'm not working until we go to the park." Yumi huffed, she stomped her foot in finality.

"It's the first day in weeks that it hasn't rained, I want to go out!" Yumi said.

"The case could go cold." Lawliet pointed out.

"So could the weather, I'm not wasting this chance." Yumi said.

"Fine, we can go, but only today." Lawliet gave in.

"Really?" Yumi asked excited.

"Not if you keep asking me." Lawliet said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, sorry." Yumi said and went to find a ride.

The park was a stretch of grass and trees, there were tennis courts and smoothie stands, but no cars or buildings. Yumi loved it there but she rarely got to go due to Lawliet's work schedule.

They walked down the shady path as Yumi watched the people play with their pets and lay in the grass. Lawliet watched the car drive down the street away from the green land.

Soon they had almost completed a full lap around the park's perimeter, suddenly there was a loud _clang!_ Both children turned toward the source of the noise in time to see a yellow tennis ball rolling away from the fence that separated them from the tennis courts.

A man ran over and scooped up the ball then in one fluid motion served it back to his companion who whacked it with his racket.

"I want to try that." Yumi said as she started toward an empty court. Lawliet chased after her but she wouldn't be deterred. Before long they were both holding rackets and Yumi was trying to learn the proper way to serve the ball.

After several failed attempts she tossed the ball in the air and succeeded in making contact with the racket. The ball made it over the net by half an inch, but Lawliet interrupted her victory by smacking the ball back over the net and into the fence.

"Can we go now?" he asked. Yumi just stared, first at him then at the ball, then at him again.

She ran over and picked up the ball again, then tried several more times to hit it over the net, finally she succeeded only to have Lawliet once again send it back to her.

Yumi pouted. "That's no fair, your better at everything than me!" she said then smiled a bit to show she wasn't too upset.

"Fine, can we leave now?" he asked again.

"Not until I make a point, and don't lose on purpose or it doesn't count." she said and he sighed heavily, this could take a while.

They started again and Yumi tried time and again to make a point but Lawliet was too fast, he countered all her attempts without really trying at all.

After a while, Yumi got frustrated and smacked the ball with all her strength, it flew over the net and was about to hit the fence when Lawliet blocked it and sent it back over the net. Yumi was dangerously close to throwing a temper tantrum, she tried to calm herself down by biting her thumb and went over to sit against the fence.

A moment later Lawliet joined her, they sat in silence for a few minutes while Yumi mastered her frustration.

"Can we go home now?" Lawliet asked breaking the silence.

"How do you make it look so easy? You seem like your not trying at all, but I still can't beat you." Yumi wanted to know his secret, he was way too good and she knew he was just learning today, like her.

"I don't focus so much on hitting the ball, as I do on predicting your moves, this is a game of the mind just as much as it is one of the body." he said simply.

"Really?" she thought about it, he was right, if she could see where he was going to send the ball, then she could win!

"Ok, one more try!" she said climbing up, Lawliet stood up with a sigh.

They got ready to play, Yumi bounced the ball on the ground a few times, then tossed it in the air. She swung with the racket, knowing where the ball would be, she made contact.

The ball flew over the net, but Lawliet was one step ahead of her, he hit the ball back over the net. This time, though, Yumi was waiting, she swung underhand and sent the ball up in the air where she smacked it back over the net.

Lawliet hit it back and they continued to send it back and forth for several minutes before Lawliet swung harder then Yumi had expected, sending the ball to the ground right in front of her feet.

They both panted, with the fatigue of the game. "You... win..." Yumi breathed and dropped her racket. Lawliet crouched on the ground, breathing hard.

"Hey! That was a great game!" they turned to see who the new voice belonged to.

One of the men from earlier jogged over to them, he stopped in front of the net and looked at the two nine year-olds as they stood back up.

"Do you play competitive?" he asked.

"No." Lawliet answered as Yumi walked over to join them.

"Well, you should consider it, I've been watching your game and your really good." he said back to him.

"Competitive? Tennis? Us?" Yumi asked each question separately.

"Yes, the two of you should sign up, I run the junior championships, and I think you should try out." he went on. "The next match is on Saturday, you would be coming in late but you still have a shot if you play like that."

"Well we sho-" Lawliet started but Yumi cut him off.

"Sure, sounds fun." she said and Lawliet glared at her.

"Great come back here at eleven on Saturday morning, you only have three matches after that not counting the finals, but you should catch up fast." he said and walked off.

"Yumi we don't have time for this, we have to keep working on the case." Lawliet said looking bothered by something.

"Calm down, we can solve the case by Saturday, and then we can play for a while, then take up more cases." Yumi said with confidence.

"We should focus on solving cases." Lawliet said.

"We can go back now and finish the case we're on, then we can compete on Saturday, besides we have three days until then."

"We shouldn't..." Lawliet said but, he was breaking down.

"Please, just until the championship." Yumi asked sweetly.

"Alright, but I'm calling for a ride home now." Lawliet said and began to walk off.

"Thank you!" Yumi squealed and followed him.

**author's note:** thanks for reading this far. Ten is a big number, so I'm excited now. Also thank you for the reviews, I'm trying to update everyday, weekends and holidays don't count, so I should be able to keep it interesting. Thank you again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 11**

**Inequality**

Yumi couldn't wait for her best friend's birthday, but once the excitement had worn down a bit, she saw the problem that should have been clear from the beginning.

She had no gift.

When she thought back on past years, she realized that she had never gotten Lawliet anything. When he had turned eight, they had just taken up a difficult case and were completely absorbed in solving it, the birthday had been forgotten in the stress of a case that they couldn't solve right away.

When he had turned nine, Yumi had been preoccupied with the long absence of Mr Wammy, who had gone to America for a case and had been gone longer then he had said he would be. Both children were worried, and by the time he had returned the birthday was a week behind them.

It now seemed like every year that Yumi tried to celebrate her friend's birthday, something came up that caused her to forget it just long enough to be too late. This year though, she would celebrate his birthday with him, which brought her back to the no gift problem.

It wasn't fair, he was her best friend but he made her feel so useless, he always knew what to get her for her birthday, and Christmas, and any other holiday that she could receive gifts for. He was just so good at knowing what she wanted, but she didn't have any idea what to get him!

There had to be something he needed, or at least wanted... wait.... was that it?... had she found.... a gift.... yes she had she would get him-

"Yumi? Class is over, we have more work to do on the case. Yumi? Are you ok?" Lawliet punctured her thoughts, she gripped the table edge hard while she tried to control her anger. He had made her forget her idea!

"Hello? Yumi? Are you alright?" he asked her again a little worried.

"I'm. Fine." she said taking deep breaths, she couldn't remember her idea, and it had been perfect!

"Ok, then can we get back to the case?" Lawliet asked.

"Yes, we can." Yumi said as her anger subsided, there was no point in being mad at him, he hadn't done it on purpose.

His birthday was in one week and she still had no ideas, and even more then that, the tennis match that she had entered them in was in two days. Between the match and the case they were on Yumi would have no time to look for a gift, she sighed in disappointment, she couldn't miss his birthday for no reason.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Lawliet asked leaning toward her on the bed, they were both sitting on the bed, Lawliet in his strange position, while they worked on the latest case. Papers were covering every inch of the mattress so they were sitting on the very edges with Lawliet near the pillow and Yumi at the foot of the blankets.

"I'm fine." she insisted, she couldn't tell him she had no gift.

"Well then, why don't you answer my question? Which suspect seems more guilty?" he asked.

"They both seem guilty, maybe their working together?" Yumi answered, she was still distracted by the gift problem.

"Perhaps..." Lawliet trailed off as he began reassessing the evidence.

Yumi sighed again, this was hopeless...

... and to make things worse, the tennis match arrived in no time at all. While she was so distracted by her dilemma the tennis match had lost it's appeal to her, she considered dropping out, but decided that dropping out could make Lawliet more suspicious.

Mr Wammy drove them to the park, and they spent the remaining hour before the match practicing. Yumi tried to concentrate on the ball but she was to preoccupied by the approaching birthday.

The ball flew past her several times before she noticed that Lawliet had served it. This was bad, she redoubled her efforts to focus and was rewarded with a game where she wasn't missing every shot. Not long after that, the real matches began. Lawliet was up first against a boy who seemed to have no problem countering his moves at first. Then as the match dragged on, the other boy got tired, which cost him the match.

Lawliet wasn't tired at all and Yumi began to worry that he would beat her when they played a round. She was up next and had to try hard not to lose focus. She pushed the thoughts of Lawliet's birthday to the back of her mind while she tried to play. She must have gotten lucky because her opponent had a hard time predicting her moves, the match ended with Yumi as the winner.

"Good job." Lawliet said as Yumi sat down next to him.

"You too." she answered him.

The matches continued for two hours until only four players were left, they were going to the next round. Yumi and Lawliet were two of the four, the other two were a boy who looked like he was half noodle, he was the champ from last year, and a girl who was constantly pushing her glasses further up her nose.

They drove home with Mr Wammy and went strait to Lawliet's room. Yumi was still thinking about the birthday problem, Lawliet was trying to solve the case they had been working on in time for the next tennis match, and if Yumi hadn't known him better she would have thought he was enjoying the game.

It was late at night when they solved the case, and Yumi had the strange and rare need to sleep, she said good night to Lawliet once the file had been filled out and went to her room to sleep. She lay in bed thinking of Lawliet and gifts and tennis and cases until her eyes wouldn't stay open anymore.

The sun was up when she opened her eyes again, and she briefly wondered how night could have ended in one blink, but that was before she noticed Lawliet on her bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked her voice still sounded like sleep.

"You slept in, I came to wake you." he said matter of factly.

"We don't have classes, it's Sunday." she said as she tried to adjust her eyes to the new light.

"We do have a case though." he said.

"You already got a new one?" she asked in disbelief.

"No... but I will... later." he said.

What? "Then what's the point of waking me up now?" she asked, then realized that the question sounded a bit mean.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go for a walk in the park, maybe we can practice for Wednesday's match." he said shyly, he had never asked to go outside before.

"You... want to practice? Ok." he said trying to get up only to realize that Lawliet was sitting on her legs. He noticed the problem at the same time and climbed off the bed.

In a few minutes they were in the car and were pulling out of the driveway. They got to the park at about ten, which made Yumi even more aware of how late she had slept in.

They walked around the park a few times then headed to the tennis courts, after a few "practice" games they had warmed up enough to play a few rounds, Lawliet won the first game then Yumi beat him the second game, they were in the middle of a third when a rain drop fell onto the tip of Yumi's nose.

She ignored it at first but another followed, the distraction was enough and Lawliet smacked the ball over the net, and onto the ground, winning another match for Lawliet. They had to stop as the rain began to fall, and they had to take cover in the park gazebo.

The tiled roof of the gazebo kept them dry, and they had managed to reach shelter before the bulk of the storm hit. Whitewashed benches surrounded the inner perimeter of the wall-less building so they could sit and wait for the storm to subside.

The trees blew in the wind and leaves flew into the gazebo, but the rain couldn't reach the two refugees.

"Hey, Lawliet?"

"Yes?"

"What do you want for your birthday?"

"I don't need anything."

"Yes I know, but what do you _want_?"

"Nothing."

"There has to be something."

"No."

"Well I'm getting you something whether you want it or not, but I don't know what it is yet."

"Stop trying, I don't need anything."

"Yes but you have to want something."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No."

"Yes."

"No-"

"Well it doesn't matter anyway, I'm still getting you something."

"Fine."

"So you can either help me or- wait what?"

"I said fine, you can get me something."

"Oh ok thanks."

"But I wont tell you what I want."

"That's not fair."

"Yes it is."

"Hmm..."

"What?"

"Wouldn't you want to know?"

So would I, Yumi thought to herself, turning away.

"What about new clothes?" she asked after a minute.

"What?"

"New clothes."

"I said I wouldn't tell you."

"Well how about this: if I guess something you want you have to tell me you want it."

He thought for a moment. "Alright, if you guess it first."

"Ok, so, new clothes?"

"No."

"Hmm... a book?"

"What book?"

"Uh... I don't know."

"Then how am I expected to answer?"

"Fine, a puzzle?"

"Maybe."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes it is, it means your getting close."

"Oh..."

"Hey, the rain stopped."

"Your right."

"Lets get back before it starts again."

"Ok."

"A word game?"

"No."

"Well, I'll find it."

"Maybe not."

"Oh yes I will, I can feel it!"

"Best of luck then."

"Thanks."

______________________________________________________________________________

**author's note:** thanks for reading this far. I didn't get to update yesterday, because there was something else I had to do, but here it is. Thanks again for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 12**

**The Perfect Gift**

Yumi lay on her back staring at her bedroom ceiling, it was about two in the morning on Wednesday the next round of the tennis championships was today. She didn't care about that though, because tomorrow, Thursday, was Lawliet's tenth birthday, and she still didn't have a gift.

Her lack of ideas wasn't because he had everything, it was just the opposite, he needed nothing. _At all! _She had spent the past few days questioning him about what he wanted, she had gone through everything on her mental list of material possessions, everything from clothes to cake, from walks in the park to flowers, but there was nothing he wanted.

She decided to stop killing brain cells for a while and look for gift ideas on the internet, she climbed off her bed and put her bare feet on the floor. Her computer turned on fast, it was top grade like all the others in the house. Of course there was the flaw-of-one-million-pop-ups.

The Wammy's House computers had impossible virus protection and a firewall that could back-hack the American CIA, but the cost was an army of pop-ups about maintaining said software. Yumi clicked away the annoying windows and opened the internet.

She was then confronted with the problem of what to search for, she needed a keyword at least.

_Birthday presents for a ten-year-old genius_

she tried but non of the suggestions seemed right.

_Gifts for the world's next greatest detective_

was next, but all the results were for collage students at least.

She was about to try something else, when she heard a knock at the door to her room. She closed the internet and turned off the computer, she knew who it was. Then she walked over to the closed door and opened it to find her friend waiting patiently for her to answer. Lawliet may not have had social grace or experience, but he understood privacy. Especially after he had been hit with a shoe, for walking in on Yumi when she was changing.

"Morning." she said with a brightness she didn't feel, her search had pulled up nothing.

"Morning." he answered her.

...Silence...

"So... you ok?" Yumi asked.

"I'm fine." he answered.

....

"Um... do you need something?" she tried to be polite but this conversation was going nowhere fast.

"No, I guess not." he said and walked back to the stairs.

Yumi closed the door, strange, she thought before turning back to her room. The internet search was getting her nowhere so she decided to search her room for inspiration.

The bed was no help, the computer was already a failed attempt, the bookshelf was full of manuals and fiction stories, nothing there.

The wardrobe? Yumi opened the wardrobe door and looked inside, she saw a pile of spare blankets for when it was cold, the old brown wallet still full of money she had never spent. She had another set of clothes incase the ones she was wearing got ruined, and in the back, the sketchbook she had bought two years ago with the pencils and lots of dust.

She had never used the book, or the pencils she had just put them in the wardrobe when she had gotten home that day, and never taken it back out. Over time it had moved to the back.

There was another knock at the door, and Yumi walked over to it, she opened it to let her friend speak.

He stood there for a minute looking around.

"Lawliet?"

"Yes?"

"Are you looking for something?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

"We should go to the park for the match, now, we don't want to be late."

"Lawliet."

"What?"

"Lawliet, it's 4:00 am."

He didn't see the problem, the two insomniac children stood in silence for a moment.

"We have time to eat then."

"Lawliet the match doesn't start until nine."

"That gives us practice time."

"Fine." she smiled, having a friend like him kept her on her toes.

They walked down the stairs to the first floor, but of course they were the only people in the house who weren't asleep, so they had to find breakfast on their own. By the time Yumi had managed to make eatable pancakes the sun was starting to rise.

They ate in silence as the cooking staff arrived to find the mess of ingredients they had left. Mr. Wammy was awake at six o'clock sharp so by six forty-five they were in the park playing their third game of tennis.

Yumi had improved considerably since the first try last week, so now she could beat Lawliet best six out of eleven, which was how many games they had played by the time the actual matches had started.

This time Yumi was first to play an opponent, she was against the girl with the glasses, from the last round. To Yumi's surprise, the girl was strong, she hit the ball hard every time it came to her so Yumi had to work hard to keep up with the speed of the projectile.

The strength was her downfall in the long-run, though. After the fifth time the ball was returned to her, the girl could barely lift the racket to swing, on the sixth return Yumi sent the ball right past the tired girl and onto the ground.

Lawliet played next and beat his opponent easily after they had both played they sat and watched the remaining matches, the same group came out on top with only one change.

Lawliet and Yumi were going to the next round, the noodle boy and a boy who was larger and stronger looking then anyone Yumi had ever seen before.

With the matches over Yumi sank back into her depression, mulling over Lawliet's birthday, which was now one day away.

When she got back to Wammy's she did something that she had never done before: she left Lawliet by the car and went strait to her room. She could have locked the door, but she didn't bother. An idea had struck her as she had gotten out of the car.

She almost ran to her wardrobe, then opened the door in a rush and began to search through the contents.

Lawliet wondered why Yumi had run off so quickly, he wanted to follow her but decided that if she had wanted him around then she wouldn't have run away from him. Then another thought hit him, maybe she was testing him to see if he would follow or not.

If that was it, then which one was passing, following or not following her? He gave up and walked inside. Sometimes Yumi was harder to figure out then the cases they worked on.

Yumi was working furiously now, trying to finish in time, it was still early in the day but she felt like the sun was trying to set faster to throw her off. She skipped dinner, or more dessert, which made Lawliet wonder if she was sick or injured.

She was trying to make every detail perfect, closing her eyes to remember things better.

He was worried for his friend, and getting more nervous as the moon rose without a sign of her.

Yumi finished around eight o'clock, it was early but she had the strange urge to sleep, she put her work aside and lay down on her bed.

The sun rose faster then it should have, confirming Yumi's theory that it was out to get her. She tried to climb out of bed but her arms felt like lead, she finally seceded in rolling onto the floor, to impact shocked her into awareness.

She climbed onto her feet and left the room after making sure that her work was concealed in some of her spare clothes, which she left on the bed and walked to class.

She sat by Lawliet in the back of the room like normal but she wasn't really focusing on anything the teacher said, she received several worried looks from her friend before class ended.

When at last noon came and the class was dismissed Yumi pulled Lawliet to her room ignoring his cries of protest at the brute force she applied, when they reached the room Lawliet had gone from mildly worried to slightly frightened.

Yumi closed the door behind him and pulled the bundle of clothing off the bed.

"Happy birthday." she said and held it out to Lawliet.

"Yumi, I don't need one of your skirts." he said, Yumi couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not.

She rolled her eyes. "Just open it." she said.

He obeyed and had soon uncovered the folded paper in the center of the bundle. He handed the clothes back to Yumi who tossed them onto the bed, then gently unfolded the paper.

He looked down at a drawing of a young girl and a messy haired boy smiling back from the paper, the boy was dressed in baggy sweats and a white shirt, the girl had a short black skirt and a white tank top with a silver bracelet and a matching silver heart necklace.

Between the two figures was a large gold trophy one handle in each of the children's hands.

"Wow, Yumi, thanks." he said impressed by how close the drawing looked to real life.

Yumi was beaming with pride at the simple "thanks" she felt happy about her choice of gift even if it was something that wouldn't last long.

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**author's note:** sorry if the gift idea wasn't the best but she was really proud of it, she was only nine after all. My books got here today so now I wont have to wait for the dubbed episodes to come out, snail mail is a good term. Anyway thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 13**

**The Tennis Championships**

The next two qualifying tennis matches went by in a rush and now that she didn't have to worry about Lawliet's birthday gift anymore she found it much easier to concentrate on the game. She found that without the forced concentration that she had maintained through the first two games, that she really liked tennis.

The finals were the next day and it was already eleven at night, she and Lawliet were both in the finals, and though he would never admit it, Yumi knew that her friend enjoyed the game. The other two finalists were the noodle boy and a girl who looked like she could break through walls of stop freight trains.

In spite of the match that day Yumi and Lawliet had stayed up all night working on a case, they were just finishing the final sentence on the capture instructions when Lawliet excluded car thefts from the small list of cases he would still solve.

Yumi sighed and folded the envelope closed, she was beginning to lose track of what cases he wouldn't work on, focusing instead on the three or four types that he still considered worth his time.

Midnight hit and the grandfather clock in the main hall began to dong with a slow deep chiming. Yumi knew the sound well, she handed the case file to Lawliet who sat across from her pushing his mouth around to weird angles with his thumb.

He took the case file with the hand he wasn't using to play with his face, and set it on the table carefully. Yumi yawned, she wasn't tired at all it had just become a habit she performed when she heard the clock chime.

Lawliet had been looking at her at the time, he knew it was coming because she did it every night. Still he couldn't turn away fast enough to avoid yawning as well, which made Yumi yawn again, they yawned back and forth unable to stop until Lawliet finally broke the cycle by looking away while Yumi yawned.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Yumi stood up and walked to the door.

"I think I'll try to get some sleep." she said as she walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

"Alright, good night then." but she was already gone.

Yumi didn't need to sleep at all but decided to try just incase it would improve her game. Though she had been lucky enough not to have a game against Lawliet in the preliminaries she knew that they would have to play a game in the finals, there could only be one champion.

She lay in bed as she usually did at this hour and stared at the ceiling, she had memorized the blank white paint of the ceiling by now but she refused to lay on her side, she didn't like having people behind her, so laying facing the wall and away from the door was out, also there was the paranoia that someone would come out of the wall if she lay facing the door.

She slipped into unconsciousness as the clock rang one in the morning, when the sun was up she woke herself by sneezing into the blankets, she didn't normally wake this way which meant that Lawliet was near, and he had the rackets.

That may not seem related at all, but Yumi was always sneezing around the racket covers which were magnets for dust. Of course her hunch was right, she opened her eyes to see Lawliet sitting on the end of her bed, by her feet, and staring at her with black eyes.

He didn't seem to grasp that staring was rude, but Yumi didn't mind anymore. Also he was holding the tennis rackets behind his back, he probably tried to hide them so she wouldn't know he was looking forward to the match, but his attempt was interrupted by her awakening.

Now he was trying to demonstrate how comfortable sitting on two tennis rackets could be, Yumi didn't buy it and undermined his attempt by making a show of yawning and stretching herself out under the covers, secretly trying to unbalance his act.

It worked and he tumbled over onto the floor, the rackets didn't exactly help his landing. His removal from her bed made it easier to get up, Yumi rose to her feet and helped her friend up. They both walked down the stairs, and Yumi used a black umbrella to fend of the rubber bats and spiders left over from Halloween. The second floor children still insisted on throwing them around.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs Yumi put the umbrella in the hallway coatrack, then they both went out to the black car that took them to the park.

At the park they played a few practice games, they were a few hours early again, then the matches started.

Lawliet played first, he was against the noodle boy. The boy was fast, but Lawliet was faster and after a few returns he sent the ball into the fence, winning the match.

Yumi played the freight train girl, the girl had strength but was very slow, she caught the ball on the racket the first two or three times but after that the running became too hard and Yumi won with a ball in the fence.

Then came the moment Yumi had been dreading: her match with Lawliet. They were the last two finalists and whoever won this match would be junior tennis champion.

Yumi took a stance to defend even though she was going to serve, and bounced the ball on the ground a few times before tossing it into the air, she slammed the racket into the yellow tennis ball and sent it over the net, Lawliet was waiting though and smacked it right back to her.

He could have easily aimed to the left or right of her so she would have had to chase the ball to hit it, but his shot was directed right at her, this made it easy to repel, which was probably the point.

Lawliet hadn't counted on the ferocity of her return she had slammed the ball back and it was aimed to the left, which was his right, which was a mistake. But who can tell directions backwards? Lawliet was right handed so she had aimed for his good side.

Lawliet countered and Yumi had to sprint across the width of the court in order to save the ball. She returned it but her swing was weak from haste, and was sent right back again, the game went on with both players running back and fourth across their sides of the court.

It got to a point when Lawliet had to really apply himself to the game, and Yumi had to take off her shoes in mid stride to reach the ball in time.

Yumi returned the ball to Lawliet who also removed his shoes, and sent the ball back with more force then was really needed. Yumi swung hard and barely managed to return the ball in time, but the swing had thrown her off balance, so when the ball came flying back to her left, she had to turn at an unnatural angle and dive to the ground for it.

In mid dive Yumi felt her ankle bend strangely, a stab of pain shot up her leg, and she screamed at it's suddenness, she lost her grip on the racket as her dive turned to a fall and the tennis ball bounced on the ground a few inches from her fingers as she hit the ground and skidded to a rough stop.

I was the momentum of her leap that made it hurt so much, so when the shock of the landing wore off Yumi was surprised to find that her left side and right ankle still stabbed with pain. Several people ran over to her and tried to help her up but it was Mr. Wammy who finally pulled her off the ground.

She had twisted her ankle and skinned her left arm and leg deeply, blood trickled down her left side and she was given a few towels to wipe it off with. She had soaked through one towel already when Lawliet walked over and sat down next to her.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, can you get me another towel?" she answered.

Lawliet had sat to her right so he was as far away from her bloody side as he could be while still being close enough to speak with her.

Yumi hadn't thought much about his reasoning for this, so when she handed him the blood soaked towel, she was surprised to see him turn a sickly pale and take a series of deep breaths before excepting it.

He didn't want to touch her blood on the white towel, so he held it between his thumb and first finger almost like it was going to bite him.

He was gone for only a moment before he returned to the bench with a fresh towel, and an expression that suggested the other one had been burned. He held the new towel like he had held the other one, though she hadn't touched it yet and there was no way that there was blood on it.

After several minutes of waiting on the bench with a pale Lawliet and a growing pile of bloody towels which he refused to touch, the two children got in the car with a large gold painted trophy for winning the British Junior Championships.

When they got back to Wammy's Yumi was sent to the main office, there was no nurse, because the genius residents of the house shouldn't need full time health care. She received a spray that burned the wounds for a few minutes and a gauze wrap for her ankle. When she returned to her room Lawliet was nowhere to be seen and Yumi assumed he was hiding from blood and towels.

She lay on her right side in bed, it hurt too much to lay on her back or on her left, and fell asleep.

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**author's note: **thanks for reading this far and thanks for the review. Writing the yawning thing at the beginning made me tiered so I'm going to lay in bed now. Thanks again!


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 14**

**Leaving Wammy's House**

A twelve-year-old Lawliet crouched on his chair staring at the teacher as he conducted a lecture on the geography of North America. Had you asked him, Lawliet wouldn't have had any idea what the lecture was on. In the past two years, Lawliet had grown taller and lanky, his eyes now drooped with the purple bags, signs of his insomnia.

Yumi crouched next to him in a perfect mimic of his pose, she also stared at the teacher, and she would also never be able to recall what he was saying. The two sat in the back of a large crowd of children in the back of the class room, they hadn't moved at all over the years and still sat in the very back of the room farthest from the teacher, but the class had moved closer to them.

The reason for the move was unclear, but Yumi herself suspected that it had to do with the staggering number of cases they had solved. The class was silent as usual, and Yumi and Lawliet stared blankly at the front, the teacher believed they were paying attention, but in reality the stare they directed achieved the same result as painting irises on their eyelids so they could sleep in class.

Both their thoughts were far away. Yumi had changed little more then Lawliet over the past two years, she now wore a white t-shirt and a short black skirt, she still wore the silver heart necklace and silver bracelet that she had always worn. Her eyes the same shade of steel grey and her hair a few inches longer, it now fell to the small of her back.

Her thoughts wandered through several different subjects until her eyes fell on the round globe on the teacher's desk, it wasn't always there but for this lesson it had been moved to the front of the room. She watched it spin absently as the teacher droned on. Briefly she wondered how many places the globe showed that she had never visited. The number was no doubt a large one.

She resisted the urge to sigh as the teacher stopped the globe's rotation by placing his finger on North America. She wondered for a moment why the world spun, why couldn't it stop for a while and take a break?

When the class ended at noon Yumi and Lawliet went back to the attic room to work on a case. A gleaming gold painted trophy, commemorating the winner of the British junior tennis championships sat on the desk, Yumi's arm hurt looking at it, the bookcase was full of dictionaries in several different languages and atlases for unknown places.

They sat down at the wooden table in the back of the room where the file from the case they were currently working on lay spread out. They sat in silence looking over several different papers, all of which they had seen before and memorized, the study of information they had already known was an excuse to keep from talking.

Yumi was reading the victim list, which she had memorized already, she chanced a look over the document at Lawliet who was holding the insurance claims placed on the victims between his finger and thumb. He had held everything like that since the tennis match two years ago, Yumi wasn't sure why, but he wouldn't give up the practice even when she pointed out the flaw in stability.

"Your going to drop that, you know." she said breaking the silence, the pile of papers he was holding was very thick and she could tell the effort he was putting into holding it up.

"No, I wont." he answered but even as he said it the center of the pile sipped a bit.

"Ok." Yumi said and they returned to silence.

A minute later the center of the pile fell out and both children dove to the floor to save the order of the papers.

Yumi didn't point out the fact that she had been right, but her silence was all the"I told you so" that she needed. Once they had, more or less, recovered and reordered the files, Yumi discovered a key link.

"Suspect number three is guilty." she stated confidently.

"Why do you say that?" Lawliet asked.

"He was out of town the day the body was found but was just leaving town when the murder was committed. The air port he was leaving from is five minutes from the house of the first victim, who he was rooming with and he had to wait an extra hour while the flight was delayed, the weather report said the flight would be delayed several weeks in advance, so he booked the flight, then went to the house during the delay and killed the victim, giving him just enough time to make the flight, the murder was carried out with a knife but the scene was very clean so he wouldn't get blood on himself, that meant he wouldn't have to change clothes before the flight." she finished.

Lawliet considered the possibilities of that suspect being guilty for a moment then turned back to the files so he could think of a plan to catch the suspect.

A few hours later the case had been submitted and the sun hadn't set yet, so Yumi went for a walk in the rose garden. Lawliet had been acting strange lately, she didn't know why, but silences stretched longer then before and were uncomfortable, they worked on cases only in the day time and then Yumi would return to her own room to attempt sleep.

It was late May, so the roses were starting to color the whole yard with hues of red and white, pink, and yellow. Yumi loved being here, she stayed in the last rays of the setting sun while she inspected a red rose that had fully bloomed and was beginning to wilt slowly into a dry brown corpse.

She sat in the grass and thought about how distant her friend had become lately, she didn't know why and she didn't know what to do. She closed her eyes and lay on her back in the grass until the warmth of the sun faded away.

It was cold without the sun, Yumi didn't dislike the cold, but it seemed to make her worry for her friend turn to loneliness, as if he had been lost.

She opened her eyes and went to dinner, Lawliet sat at their usual table and Yumi joined him, many other children at Wammy's tried to get to dinner early so they could secure a table close to the two friends.

Yumi tried not to think about how different Lawliet was from when they had first met, she could even compare his strange behavior to how he had been last week. What was causing it? She wondered.

"Causing what?" Lawliet asked through a mouthful of cake, which made Yumi realize she had been talking out loud to herself.

"Um..." Yumi had to think fast, and she couldn't just say "nothing" or he would ask again. "I just wondered why... this strawberry is sweet and the last one I ate was sour." she tried to lie.

"That's because one of them wasn't a strawberry it was a cherry." he said and went back to his cake.

"Oh, right." she said but he wasn't paying attention anymore.

After dinner Yumi went upstairs, she took a shower then went to bed and tried to sleep. Lawliet didn't seem to notice when she had said good night but she knew he had heard her. So what was wrong?

The white ceiling was just like it had been every night for the past five years she had lived here, the only difference was that now she was seeing it every night not just when she chose to sleep but whenever they finished a case before dark, which was every day.

She sighed and closed her eyes, there was no point in looking for something in the ceiling that would solve her problems.

The next morning, Yumi was up with the sun, having made the firm decision to question Lawliet on his strange behavior. When she had brushed out her hair, she went first to his room, but he wasn't there.

She thought nothing of that and went down to the dining hall to meet him.

He wasn't there either.

Next she tried the classroom, though it was Saturday.

He was nowhere to be found.

She went to the rose garden, the kitchen and even went so far as to search for him in the front office.

He wasn't in the first two places, but when she knocked on the office door, to find it open, she peeked inside. He wasn't in the office, but she saw him through the large window, he was sitting in his strange crouch in the trunk of the black car. The trunk wasn't closed of course so he was sitting on the edge of the open trunk, while a large brown suitcase was loaded in next to him by Mr Wammy.

Yumi bolted for the front door and into the yard. Lawliet looked up as she approached the car.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"America." he answered her.

So far away?

"When will you be back?" she asked.

"I wont." he said.

"Your... leaving? For... good?" she asked.

He nodded.

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**author's note:** thanks for reading this far and I wont wait until tomorrow to post the next chapter I have plenty of free time today, and need to occupy my mind for a bit so the next chapter will be up tonight. Thanks again!


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 15**

**L**

He was leaving?

Yumi's world shattered, she just stared, words were lost to her.

Lawliet looked indifferent, he just looked back calmly like this wasn't a big deal at all, but Yumi was breaking down while she tried to examine his nod for another meaning, maybe he hadn't meant to nod.

But he had, she knew it, and he wasn't going to change his mind. Yumi tried to pull herself together, so she could speak. She tried to act like she didn't care.

"O-oh." she said in a voice that was far from indifferent.

"Well you left all your things in your room. What about your books and your trophy?" she asked.

"I don't need them." he answered not looking at her.

"Well, then good luck, have a nice trip, I mean." the faster he left the faster she could run to her room and scream.

"Thanks." he said still not moving from his perch on the edge of the trunk.

Yumi couldn't look at him anymore and had to fight hard against the part of her that wanted to scream "get lost already!" he had no such problem and looked at her for a while as if thinking hard about something.

Yumi turned to leave, "Well, goodbye then." she said and started to take a step forward.

"You can come, if you want." he mumbled, suggesting it himself was against his personality.

The suggestion was quiet but Yumi heard it loud and clear, she turned to face him. Mr. Wammy had loaded the car and was probably waiting for Lawliet to move so he could close the trunk. A slight breeze ruffled their hair.

"Ok, I'd like to come with you." she said.

"Fine." he was obviously trying to make it sound like she had suggested it and he was just agreeing, she played along.

"We should leave soon or we could miss our flight." Mr. Wammy said.

Both children began to walk toward the car Lawliet leaving his perch on the trunk which allowed Mr. Wammy to close it.

Yumi turned to take one last look at the house, a small group of children had gathered on the front steps, causing Yumi to wonder how long Lawliet had been planning on leaving. Just then a silhouette caught her eye, the shape of a boy, probably the same age as her was standing in the shadow of one of the large trees that grew right up against the right side of the house.

The boy had messy hair and baggy clothes but Yumi couldn't see much more of him in the early morning shadows, though from what she could see, the boy's face was strained with concentration. He stared at her in confusion mixed with intense focus, his brow was furrowed with the strain of it, like a blind man believing he could achieve sight if he squinted enough.

The boy took a step closer to her while Yumi stared in confusion, but as the one step brought the boy within ten yards of her Yumi saw something, it was like a forgotten memory from long ago, but she remembered the red glow of a death note.

The glow didn't come off the boy himself, and he didn't have a notebook with him, or she would have sensed it from miles away, but now even though she could see the glow she still couldn't feel it at all. She tried to concentrate on the boy's aura but it wasn't around all of him, just his eyes. Was that possible? Could a death note just kill someone's eyes? Or maybe his eyes were the death note but that couldn't be it either.

"Yumi? We should go." Lawliet said from behind her.

The boy under the tree redoubled his focus as her name was said, he seemed more confused now too, his red eyes penetrated her as she turned back to Lawliet, she tried to force the boy from her mind as she got in the car but as they drove away, she looked back to see the red aura had disappeared again. She was too far way to see it.

"So Lawliet, why are we going to America anyway?" she asked half because she wanted to know and half because she wanted to forget the boy's red stare.

"Oh, and one thing, please don't call me Lawliet anymore. It's L from now on." he said.

"'L', so you finally want an alias?" she asked remembering his disinterest when aliases were brought up.

"No, well, I suppose it will also serve as an alias, but it's actually because my first name is L." he said in a flat tone, though Yumi knew he had to be joking.

"L, isn't a name. It has to be an alias." she said.

"No, it is my name, and you need to use it from now on." he said.

"Well if your first name is 'L' then what's Lawliet?" she asked him.

"My last name." he said.

"Oh." she said but then a new problem presented itself.

"Wait, if Lawliet is your last name then why didn't you tell me that earlier? I mean I've been calling you by your last name for five years now." she said, a little upset about the name switch.

"I didn't think you would ever get to know me well enough to call me by my first name, when we first met." he said simply.

"Well, even if that was why, how come you didn't tell me your first name later on?" she asked.

"It wasn't necessary." he said.

"Not necessary." she echoed him.

"Right, it wasn't." he said with finality.

"Ok, fine then Law-L." she corrected herself, "why are we going to America?"

"We have a case to solve, and by we I assume you will be helping with the investigation." he said.

"Of course I will be." she said, "but why move to America for one case?"

"We wont be moving there permanently, we will move around depending on where the case is that we are investigating." he answered.

"Ok, and will Mr. Wammy be coming with us? We are only kids." Yumi asked.

"It's 'Watari' now and yes I will be accompanying the two of you on your investigations." Mr. Wammy, or Watari, answered from the driver's seat.

"Oh, ok." Yumi said.

"You should chose an alias to work under, as well." L said to her.

"Uh... I don't need one." Yumi said and it was true 'Yumi' was after all a fake name to begin with.

L picked up on this, remembering five years ago when she had told him about not having a name. "So, you were telling the truth back then weren't you." he said almost to himself, Yumi didn't really need to answer.

The car arrived at the air port in London after about an hour's drive, when they checked in at the baggage desk, Yumi learned that they had paid for three tickets, proving that L had known Yumi would come.

The plane was small and only had two seats to an isle, so Yumi and L sat next to each other while Watari took the seat behind them, it wasn't Yumi's first time on an airplane, but she had only been four years old the last time so flying was a new sensation to her. During takeoff she had clung to L's arm so tightly that he had to bite his thumb to avoid crying out in pain.

Once they were in the air, Yumi did nothing but stare out the window. The ground felt far away, and she wondered if she would get to see a view of the globe from class. However by the time they were over the ocean, Yumi had fallen asleep on L's right shoulder.

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**author's note:** ha! My second chapter tonight and the sun is just now setting, thanks for reading and reviewing. Sorry it's short.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 16**

**Cross Country**

Yumi woke as the plane landed, the jolt of the landing was what woke her and she nearly screamed with surprise.

L sat next to her, he must have known about the coming scream, because he covered her mouth until she calmed down. They were in an airport in New York City, Yumi only knew that because they passed a billboard on the runway.

When they had gotten off the plane, the first thing that Yumi did was look around, it seemed like a strange dream because of all the people and colorful things that were being sold to tourists. Yumi had never been to America before so the whole experience was new to her, the group passed several stands on their way out of the airport.

They even stopped at one to buy a box of chocolates, then they left the airport. They were coming back in the morning, the case they had to solve was in Washington DC, so they had another flight but that flight didn't leave until morning.

They called a cab and drove to a hotel in the center of the city, the traffic in New York was unreal, the cab moved so slowly that halfway through the ride, they three decided to get out and walk.

A few blocks away they reached their hotel, and checked in at the front desk, they had two rooms right next to each other one for Watari and the other for L and Yumi to share.

They took the elevator to the tenth floor and walked down the halls. Yumi had never been in a hotel before, so she looked around intently at the flowers painted on the walls and the patterns on the carpet. A few shiny wood tables were placed in the halls many of which held either a vase of flowers or a hotel phone.

Soon they reached the rooms and divided their group, Yumi and L were in the room to the right and Watati was to the left.

They opened the door using one of the four keys they had been given at the front desk, three keys for L and Yumi's room and one for Watari's, Watari took the third key to the children's room and the one for his own, which left L and Yumi with one room key each.

The room was large, and had two king sized beds. Yumi called dibs on the one nearest the window, leaving L the one between Yumi's bed and the wall that separated the bedroom from the bathroom.

When you walked in the door the first thing that was noticed was the counter to the right of the door, it was shiny wood and held a sink, a tray with the ice bucket and a few coffee mugs on it, and the mini fridge along with some cupboards.

To the left of the door was the bathroom, and then there was an arch that at least showed where the bedroom and half-kitchen were separated. The curtains over the window was pulled back to expose a large glass door that led out onto a balcony over looking the city.

Yumi was excited about her first night in a hotel and jogged to her bed, she climbed up onto the soft, fluffy covers there were four pillows on each bed and Yumi took this to be overkill but she didn't mention this to L.

L seemed less interested in the room, he went strait to the couch in the corner and set down the case file on the end table, he didn't wait for Yumi to come over before he opened it and started to look over the file.

"What's the case about?" Yumi asked after a thorough inspection of the curtains.

"Murder, two men in an apartment, they were both found dead a few days ago, at first it was thought they killed each other but then the police noticed the absence of the murder weapon. A week later two women were found in the same situation, all were stabbed to death." he answered absorbed in the case file.

"Who's working on the case?" Yumi asked as she walked over to the table.

"We are." L glanced up at her and smiled slightly at his joke, Yumi was glad that he was smiling again.

"You know what I mean." she said.

"The local police, and because the murders have both been in the nation's capital the FBI have gotten involved as well." he answered.

"And they haven't figured it out yet?" she asked, it didn't seem hard from his summary.

"No, not yet." he answered.

"Ok, so then, how do we start, we don't know the area like we did back home." Yumi pointed out.

"We'll be working with the police." L said.

"Great, now I get to spend my first trip to the US in a stuffy police station." Yumi pouted.

"We wont be going to the police station at any time during the investigation, and its important that the police not know who we are." he said.

"Wait, I think I missed something there, how do we work with the police if they don't know who we are?" Yumi asked.

"Watari will be the connection, along with a computer image and synthetic voice he is developing for us."

"A computer and a fake voice?" Yumi asked, "how does that help at all?"

"Oh, and one more thing, the police must be led to believe there is only one of us, therefor we will both be known as L, just on L." he said, that didn't answer Yumi's question, but she forgot about that.

"Both of us have to be one L? Why, I mean wouldn't be easier to just say there are two of us?" she asked.

"No, if there is just one of us and our hiding place is tracked down by a culprit, then only one of us would be in danger." he said moving on to another paper filled with data.

"Ok, fine, but why do we have to be L, why couldn't we pick another alias?" she asked.

"Well, we could I just thought it would be easier to be L, I mean you don't have a name so I assumed we could just use mine. We could change it if you want to." he had moved on to a small plastic bag of hair.

Yumi saw his point, "No, we can be L." she said and joined him in searching through the evidence.

They packed up the evidence around midnight being very careful not to leave anything behind, then they both tried to get some sleep for a change.

Of course the beds were really comfortable, so Yumi at least got a few hours of sleep.

When the sun rose Watari knocked on their door and called to them to wake up. Yumi sat up in bed and looked around the room, L was already walking towards the door. It was then that a delayed thought from the day before caught up with Yumi, she looked down at herself and confirmed her mistake.

She had left all her things at Wammy's House in England.

She took a moment to be angry at herself, then got out of bed. She had no clothes, though she knew she could ask Watari for money to buy more, it was actually the sketchbook and colored pencils that she missed, she had only ever used them once, for L's tenth birthday.

The three left the hotel shortly after Yumi made the discovery and went back to the airport to catch their flight to the capital. American airport security was tighter then in Japan or London, but not too bad over all, soon they had boarded their flight and L made a point of giving Yumi an airplane pillow so she wouldn't squeeze him like when they had left London.

Yumi protested greatly saying that she wouldn't need it but then the plane lifted off the ground and Yumi almost punctured the pillow, L said nothing.

Within a few hours they had landed in DC, they didn't go to a hotel though. This time, they bought a car with a blank license plate, it was black and shiny like the old one, it even smelled the same.

They drove to a warehouse on the very outskirts of the city, the kind of place that even gangs didn't go. Yumi wondered why they were here and was about to ask but she got the answer before she could open her mouth.

"We, will stay here, everything we need to survive until the case is solved is here, Watari will be able to contact us at anytime and we can contact him, but until we move again we will have to stay away from other people and the city." L said flatly as he walked up to the front where a wooden door was set deep in the wall.

"The computer and other equipment is set up inside." Watari said and got back in the car.

He drove off and Yumi followed L into the warehouse.

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**author's note:** thanks for reading this far, and I'll put a description of the warehouse in the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews!


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 17**

**The Ls' First Case**

The warehouse wasn't what Yumi had expected at all, from the outside it looked like a run down place that no one had bothered to condemn. But on the other side of the small wooden door, was a large room, a wall had been added to the space so there was a separate half of the warehouse from the front room.

The wall didn't reach all the way to the ceiling but it was too high to see over so the purpose was still served. In the main room was a kitchen to the left with a fridge and clean counters to prepare food on, there was even an oven and a microwave.

On the right was a soft-looking couch and a matching armchair, there was a coffee table and an end table with a lamp on it. The floor had been swept completely clean and all the surfaces were almost shining in the dark room. L hit a light switch on the wall inside the door, and a cluster of large ceiling lights turned on, Yumi was careful not to walk under them, they looked heavy.

Through the door in the extra wall, was another room, but the room was small, to small to be the whole space behind the wall.

It was probably a work room, there was one computer on the floor, there was no desk but all the equipment for the computer was there. Even a microphone and a round machine that must be the synthetic voice projector sat on the floor.

The computer looked high-tech and expensive, Yumi really started to wonder how long L had been planning this move. There was a door in the right wall that led to a bathroom and a door in the left wall that Yumi opened and passed through.

It led to a bedroom, there were two beds an armchair and a table in between the beds, there was also a wardrobe which reminded Yumi of her need for clothes. There was a window but it was covered with a thick black cloth.

Yumi finished exploring and joined L in the work room, the light in that room didn't seem to work but neither mentioned that, the computer provided enough light to work by. After about an hour's time spent on the case files alone, a strange noise came out of the computer speakers.

It sounded like a phone being hit by a truck at first but then cleared up into more of an alert, someone was coming in on voice chat. L didn't wait long to answer, he went to the computer and opened a program that connected him to a man dressed in a black coat and a black hat, his face was also covered in a mask of black fabric.

"What is it, Watari?" L asked the figure, though how he could tell it was Watari was a mystery to Yumi.

"I'm at the police station now, the chief has agreed to let you head the investigation." Watari answered.

"Alright, thank you, Watari." L said and hit the mute button on the computer.

"Yumi, is there any information that you need to solve the case?" he asked.

"Yes, uh... where did all the fingerprints come from? There had to be at least twenty different people in the building." she answered.

L put in the request, while Yumi thought about what else she would need. The surest way to find the culprit was to find fingerprints from both scenes that matched, but with so many different fingerprints at each scene, two things became clear. 1) the culprit was using the rubber glove technique and 2) the real culprit's fingerprints were there. That made the most sense, after all it was easier to go through an interrogation and come out cleared on purpose then it was to slip up and get caught.

Of course, the fact that the culprit used so many fingerprints was sure proof that they had left their own prints and were trying to cover it up.

"Also, check the exact location of each fingerprint in the house, the culprit's should be farthest away from the body." Yumi said to L who then relayed the command to Watari.

A team of police officers was dispatched to the two scenes, because there were two bodies at each scene the police were able to narrow there search to two categories: fingerprints on both bodies at both scenes and fingerprints on one body at each scene. The rest of the prints were ignored.

The knife marks on each body had been measured and it was now confirmed that the murder weapon was the same for each victim. That made it easy to tell that the murderer was an amateur, and didn't understand that now the weapon could be traced.

The murderer had chosen to use only one weapon because it was easier to hide then four different weapons, but it was always better to use different weapons to avoid getting caught.

The police ended the meeting and Watari set the next one for the next day, with that the connection between Watari's laptop and the warehouse computer was lost.

It was late by the time Yumi finished looking over the new evidence, she decided to sleep for a while then pick up the case again in the morning. L wished her a good night and went back to the file.

Yumi's dream was terrifying. She had had nightmares before but this was much worse.

She stood alone in a dark room, it was so dark that she would have thought it wasn't a room at all, but she felt the floor solid under her feet. Regardless of which way she looked all she saw was blackness.

Then there was a voice one voice at first, she knew it was L even without seeing him, she felt a hand on her shoulder but saw nothing. Then a horrible thought occurred to her, was she blind?

She tried to turn toward L and she strained to see him but no matter which way she turned, he wasn't there, finally someone grabbed both her shoulders to stop her from spinning in rapid circles. She heard the voice again and even though it was quite clear she still couldn't hear what it was saying.

Then the blackness turned to red mist like she always saw around Death Notes, there was a scream from L and the hands slid from her shoulders, she could still see nothing but the red glow, and she tried to feel where L had gone, but then the first form appeared, it was Kyu, Yumi couldn't remember him as clearly as before, but the vision was clear enough.

Kyu moved his mouth like he was speaking, but Yumi couldn't hear him. She couldn't see L either.

Kyu took out a death note and opened it to a page where only one name had been written, it was in large letters so Yumi had no trouble reading it. She panicked and looked around for L but he was gone.

"NO! GO AWAY!" Yumi screamed and flailed around with her arms in an attempt to swat the red mist away.

Then her scream was joined by another. She opened her eyes to find herself on her back in the bed, she stared up at her left arm which she held up in the air fingers out stretched reaching for something that wasn't there. Her right arm was on the bed but bent at the elbow so the lower half was up in the air as if blocking something.

She relaxed as the dream faded away. Her muscles relaxed and her arms fell flat on the bed, then she looked to her left to see L, he was climbing to his feet by the armchair that had fallen over. Yumi guessed what had happened, L had been working on a laptop in the armchair while she slept. Then she screamed in her sleep and he was shocked into falling out of his chair.

"Sorry." she said and got out of bed to help him with the chair.

"What were you so afraid of?" he asked as the chair was replaced.

"You don't want to know." Yumi answered looking away.

"No, probably not if it was that frightening." he agreed.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Yumi asked.

"No, I already ate." he answered.

"Oh, ok excuse me then." she said and walked back to the kitchen.

L's name had been in that death note, he had died... but it wouldn't happen in real life. Yumi thought to herself.

She went to the refrigerator and grabbed the handle, but before she could open it something caught her eye. She released the fridge door and walked over to the plate of chocolate pancakes L had left on the counter for her.

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**author's note:** thanks for reading this far, and sorry it's so short. Thanks for the reviews. See you Monday (hypothetically speaking of course).


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 18**

**The Counter Resets**

"Could this be a connection, all the victims were under six feet tall?" Yumi asked, she already knew that wasn't it but the search for the connection had been going on for two days now.

"No, that's not it." L answered they both sighed, the investigation was going no where fast.

Yumi looked over the personal records of one of the victims again. He had been a lawyer fresh out of collage and still young.

Wait, Yumi realized and backed up her thoughts, collage.

Yumi grabbed for the stack of education related information on one of the victims from the second scene. She had seen it there, last time she had read the records it hadn't stood out at the time but...

"I think I found it!" Yumi exclaimed, and L looked toward her.

"Found what?" L asked.

"You know what, the connection, one of the men from the first scene went to collage with one of the women from the second scene!" Yumi was proud of herself for finding what she was sure was the connection.

"That can't be it." L said in a flat voice, destroying Yumi's happiness.

"Why not?" Yumi pouted like a small child.

"Because that only links one victim from each scene." he didn't look at her.

"But that's just it! The other two victims were to hide the connection, they weren't involved at all." Yumi was positive her theory was correct.

"I still don't see that as a connection." L said and turned the page of a report he was reading.

"No, listen I know I'm right. Someone from the collage killed the first victim alone, but the second victim must have walked in at the wrong time, that explains the fact that the second victim had two stab marks not one. But to cover up the mistake, the killer had to kill an extra woman at the next scene." Yumi said confidently.

"I suppose that does make sense." L admitted then turned to the computer.

"Watari?" he called into the mike and a moment later a cloth covered face appeared.

"Yes?" Watari asked L.

"Search for all fingerprints left by anyone who attended Washington State University, and then call all matches in for police interrogations." L said and then turned away from the computer as Watari left to perform the task

The investigation team took about twenty four hours to track down the culprit, he was a thirty five year old man who had had a grudge against the two victims. The man confessed to the charges and was taken into custody.

Yumi's discovery had been the only thing that had saved the man from capture in the first place so when the fact was uncovered it was easy to catch him.

When in collage the man had been beaten in a contest between the three, later the two victims graduated top of the class, and that along with many other occurrences had prompted the man to retaliate out of jealousy. When killing the first victim, the culprit had been interrupted by the victim's roommate, the man had no choice but to kill the second man as well.

The man had been clever and had killed the roommate in the same way as the first, but the roommate had fought back and the man was forced to stab him twice. At the second scene, when the man had been killing the woman he had made a point to kill another woman, that way the two men and two women would be seen as a connection between the murders and not the collage.

"That's one." L said when the police finished thanking them for their help.

"Huh? One what?" Yumi asked.

"One case solved." he answered.

"Ok, you may be better at math, but I know we've solved more then one case." Yumi told him.

"No, now we have solved one case as L." he said turning towards her, he seemed different, some how, he seemed older then he had been that morning.

The next day Watari came to the warehouse and helped them pack, the next case they would be solving was in South America. The computer from the work room was smashed, Yumi thought this was a bit much, they could have taken it with them. Then they got in the car and drove to the airport.

Yumi wasn't as scared of the plane ride as she had been before, but she still received a pillow from L, who wasn't going to take chances.

They touched down in Brazil at half past three in the afternoon, then from there, went to a small out-of-the-way building, it was unnaturally similar to the DC warehouse and the interior was much the same.

Yumi lay her new suitcase on one of the beds in the back room. Moving around didn't bother her at all, it was the fact that the places were so close to each other in appearance that irked her.

The similarities between the buildings themselves gave Yumi the uneasy feeling that she was staying in the same place while the outside world changed, it was frightening to consider, but if the world could change like that, just by performing a simple adjustment, then nothing she did would feel like it mattered.

Her reasoning in that could have been flawed, but she still felt strange and distant, like the world was changing around her and she was staying the same, forever.

"Can we stay somewhere permanently?" Yumi asked L as they packed up a few weeks later for another move.

"And, where would that be, we have to stay in contact with all nations of the world who require help." he said matter-o-fact-ly, "if we stay in one place then those on the other side of the world wouldn't receive our help."

He had a point. "But still, we should at least try to move less." she tried.

"Does moving bother you?" he asked.

"No, but-"

"Then we don't need to stop." he concluded.

Yumi was silent.

They arrived at another matching warehouse, this was now getting annoying.

"Then, could we not stay in places that all look the same?" Yumi didn't beg, ever, but she was getting frighteningly close.

"Perhaps." L answered.

Yumi didn't push him anymore, headway with him had to be made slowly.

They started the case, it was theft, so the argument was halted.

A week later, they moved again, and again...

And again...

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**author's note:** sorry this chapter was short and uneventful, but now things can get interesting. Thanks for reading, and though it's not at all relevant, eight is my lucky number. I meant to say that in the last chapter but... anyway 8! See you tomorrow!


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 19**

**The Great Detective War**

Yumi lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, she was sixteen now but the habit of laying on her back remained consistent.

L had been staring gravely at the chess board between them for several minutes, he was taking a long time to decide on his next move so Yumi decided to recline on the bed for a while.

Finally L made his move and Yumi sat up, she looked over the board. She was the white pieces and L was the black, currently both had one rook three pawns and the king remaining. How they had wound up with exactly the same pieces in play Yumi couldn't imagine.

She reached out for her rook but then the computer beeped as Watari announced his presence.

L stood up and walked to the computer, Yumi groaned, this had been the first break the two of them had had in several months, so Yumi wasn't excited about whatever case Watari had found for them.

"L," Watari began, he knew Yumi was there, but addressing only L was a signal that he wasn't alone at the moment, "several people have gone missing in the area surrounding your current location, there were twenty people in all and all disappeared in less then seventy-two hours."

"I see, are there any suspects?" L asked, Yumi perked up, she was already wondering how twenty people could disappear in so little time.

L and Watari continued to discuss the case and possible suspects, Yumi was not allowed to join in, she had to act like L was one person working with Watari and no one else. So when Watari called them and only spoke to L, Yumi kept silent, and let her seventeen-year-old friend discuss the case. She would be filled in later.

"Oh, and one more thing," Watari said, "the detective, Eraldo Coil, has also taken this case, he apparently wishes to challenge you, he believes he can solve the case first."

Yumi didn't wait for the signal, she was across the room in seconds, looking up Coil on her own computer, it didn't take long.

"Thank you, Watari." L said and disconnected from the laptop's signal.

"Look at this." Yumi ordered as soon as she was allowed to talk freely.

L walked over calmly and focused on the computer screen.

The file on Eraldo Coil was open on the screen.

"Impressive." L said flatly.

Coil was known as the world's greatest detective, he was famous for finding people, and taking any job for the right price.

But more then that, he wanted to challenge L, which meant that L's skill was a problem for his reputation, they were closing the gap between them, and Coil was getting nervous.

Yumi glanced up at her friend, he seemed calm but she knew him too well to believe he was really uninterested in the whole thing. Confidence was something L seemed to have invented.

"Judging by this, Coil chose a case that would play to his strengths, he has the upper hand because we've never found missing people before." Yumi said after L had read the main body of the page.

"Yes, how convenient for him that this came up around the time we started gaining on him." L said, he was smirking, Yumi worried about this, they had never been challenged before, and L didn't smirk for nothing.

However it was his tone that worried her the most.

"You don't suspect Coil do you?" she asked, " I mean he's a detective like us he wouldn't commit a crime for nothing."

"I didn't say I suspected him, but if you could come to that conclusion, than we should look into it." L said, Yumi had been tricked, she had been made to state the suspicion first, and now she would have to look into it.

She sighed, he was good, then turned back to her computer and started the search for information.

The case had been going for a few days when it happened, Yumi was just returning from a walk in the park, when she walked in on L while he was on the phone.

He was talking in a fake voice probably to avoid giving away his age, but that meant that the scrambler was off, that didn't happen often.

"Who is it?" Yumi asked, she wasn't supposed to talk, she could tell but she was too curious to let it go.

L gave her a "be quiet" look but it was too late, who ever was on the other side of the phone call made a noise and L had to answer a question that Yumi couldn't hear.

"Oh, that was just my wife, nagging me about something." L said in his fake voice, it was believable, and it was just a think fast excuse but Yumi turned bright pink.

"Yes, yes I see..." L went on as Yumi tried to calm down, it shouldn't have bothered her so much but she wasn't able to stop the coloring of her face.

"Alright, I see, thank you... yes of course.... yes goodbye." L finished Yumi finally calmed down and the blush faded from her cheeks.

"The director of the FBI sends his regards to the Mrs." L said casually.

The blush returned.

"What- What was that call about?" Yumi tried to ask without tipping him off to her hyperventilation.

"Another detective has joined the case, the director believed that I was a delegate involved in the case assignments, lucky for us he failed to notice the fact that the delegate I was pretending to be isn't married." L stated.

"Oh, lucky, sorry... uh, who's the new detective?" Yumi asked, she mentally scolded herself for not being more careful.

"Deneuve, don't bother looking him up, he's the second greatest detective in the world and that's all we need to know." L answered.

"Why are they both after you?" Yumi asked perplexed.

"I don't think it's me they're challenging." L said, "when Coil challenged me, Deneuve joined in to beat Coil, because that would make him the best in the world, I don't really matter to either anymore."

"Oh, I see, then why don't we quit the case, with both of them working on it we shouldn't be needed to get it done." Yumi reasoned.

"No, we should still solve the case, I found a lead." L said and motioned for Yumi to follow him to the computer.

"I found it while you were out, apparently the victims disappeared in slowly increasing numbers over the few days that it took to get to twenty victims. First it was two victims, then four, then six and eight at the same time. I don't think this fact has been uncovered yet." L said and Yumi did the math, two plus four, six and eight was twenty.

"So is this one fact going to solve the case?" Yumi asked skeptically.

"Yes it will." L seemed confident.

"How do you figure?"

"Because, the division of victims was a message, four different groups were abducted, twenty victims in all, four multiplied by twenty is what?" he asked, he knew the answer.

"Eighty, but..."

"So eighty multiplied by two is?"

"One hundred and sixty, where did you get two?"

"The number of victims was increased by two each time, anyway, I looked for anything with those numbers involved and found..." he pulled up a picture on the computer, it was a small farm house with a large barn in the back, the property was huge it was at least ten acres, and Yumi could tell from the picture alone that security was tight.

"Um... a house?" Yumi asked.

"Yes with the address 28160 Cider Lane." L said.

"Cider?" Yumi didn't know how that fit in.

"Yes there was a broken glass at each scene they were all filled with cider at one time."

"So, the kidnapper left a massage?" Yumi asked.

"Yes, the kidnapper must be here." he gestured to the picture.

"Ok, then what do we do, call the police in?"

"No we need more evidence then this, and the suspect could have moved by now." he said turning back to the screen.

"So we just sit and wait?" Yumi was upset by the fact that he had found this but refused to move on his own theory.

"No, we will do something. We're breaking in." L said as he closed the picture of the house, to reveal another photo.

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**author's note:** thanks for reading this far, I'm tiered, that doesn't matter though, I'm going to lay in bed now. I don't sleep so I wont say that's what I'm doing but anyway, thanks for the reviews!


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 20**

**Reenforcements**

"Who's that?" Yumi asked as she tried to focus on the blurry picture of a blond woman.

"This is Wedy." L said as he enlarged the picture on the computer.

"Is that an alias?" Yumi wondered out loud.

"How did you guess?"

"Because it's not a name."

"Oh, well it could be, you don't know that for sure."

"Well, forget it, why are you bringing her up?" Yumi changed the subject.

"She's a thief, and she's quite skilled at breaking into high-end security systems." L said.

"What? Your taking on another case? Aren't you suppose to be focusing on the challenge we already started?" Yumi asked confused, he had refused to give up the challenge, but he would multi task in the middle of it?

"No, I'm not taking on another case, Wedy is planning to break into a high security building tonight and steal some kind of technology, I want you to head her off." L said.

"Wait, if your not taking on another case then why are you going after her? I mean doesn't catching her count as another case?" Yumi was completely confused now.

"You misunderstand, I'm not sending you to catch her, I'm sending you to request her help with the case." the response was flat toned and sounded like he was annoyed at her slowness in uncovering his motives.

"Your asking a thief for help?" Yumi asked.

"She's never caused anyone any problems and her targets are mainly museums and banks, small time not to mention she's never been caught. We could arrest her at any time though, I have plenty of evidence."

"Wait, so your going to blackmail her into helping us? That's low, even if she is a criminal." Yumi pouted, this didn't sit well with her, but in the end she agreed to meet with the thief, Wedy.

The wind was cold and there were dark clouds overhead, but no rain fell. L had been certain that thief, Wedy, would enter the building through the skylight, so Yumi sat in the cold, her hair blowing in the wind as she waited for the outcome of L's hunch.

She tried hard not to lean back onto the glass, even Yumi could tell that doing so would set off the alarm. It had been an hour since she had first arrived on the roof, she was cold it was dark and she was bored.

She took out her brand new cell phone and dialed the number for the current hideout, L answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" his voice was scrambled, but Yumi could tell he had been sitting by the phone even through the synthesizer.

"L, I'm bored, I don't think she's coming." Yumi said, her voice was scrambled by the phone, the scrambler could be turned off but Yumi never bothered to do it.

"She should be there, don't be inpatient." L said, there was no emotion that could be clearly heard through the phone but Yumi could sense the disappointment in his sentence.

"But it's been and hour and..." there was a noise on the other side of the air conditioning unit that Yumi had sat down behind, "never mind." Yumi said and hung up.

She stood up behind the air conditioning and looked toward the new arrival, the movement effectively blew her cover.

The woman on the roof was without a doubt the thief, Wedy, she wore a tight fitting suit of leather, it was dark so Yumi couldn't tell exactly what she looked like, but it was clear that she was prepared.

The thief grabbed something from her belt, Yumi couldn't tell what it was from the silhouette, but she had a hunch.

"Hey, don't shoot!" Yumi exclaimed, being careful not to be too loud, she held her hands in the air to show she was unarmed.

"Who are you?" thief, Wedy, asked holding the gun steady, her voice was commanding.

"I'm Yumi, I was sent here to talk to you by my friend." Yumi tried to sound tough, but she hadn't been at gun point in a while.

"Who's your friend? Are you a cop?" thief, Wedy, asked.

"No, I'm not a cop I'm a detective- hey don't shoot- I'm not here to turn you in, but if you shoot, my friend has tons of evidence on you!" Yumi needed to find a way out, she hoped L hadn't been bluffing when he had said he had evidence.

Thief, Wedy, took a step closer but lowered the gun a bit.

"Why would a detective come here instead of turning me in if you have evidence, and who is your friend?" she wasn't giving up on finding out who Yumi was sent by.

"My friend is "L" he's the world's third best detective, and he wants your help breaking into the home of a suspect in a recent case." Yumi said.

"So you work for L? Never heard of him." thief, Wedy, said.

"Ok, I work _with_ L and he's a private detective, known only to police and government agencies." Yumi hated when people counted her as the sidekick or the hired hand.

"So, this L guy has evidence on me, but instead of turning me in, he decided to blackmail me into helping him?"

"Yes, that's about right, don't blame me I think it's morally wrong." Yumi said, she lowered her hands and sat back down, then motioned for thief, Wedy, to join her.

She hesitated then stowed her gun and sat down.

"So, what does he have on me, exactly?" she asked.

"Who knows, but it must be something he thinks he can get you with or I wouldn't be here." Yumi replied.

"So, thief, Wedy, will you help us? Trust me it's better then jail." Yumi asked looking at the woman beside her, she couldn't have been more then twenty-five, Yumi guessed, but she was already an expert thief.

"What, exactly, do I have to do?" Wedy asked.

"Let me call him he didn't tell me before I came here." Yumi said and took out her phone.

She dialed L's cell phone this time, hoping to throw him off, just for fun, but he answered on the first ring.

"Yumi? Is she there, I didn't appreciate being hung up on." he asked, the voice was scrambled again.

"Yeah, she's here, you were right, so now what?" Yumi asked.

"Hand her the phone." L said.

"What? I just got this phone!" Yumi had never had a cell phone before, it was special to her.

"I didn't say let her keep it, just let me talk to her." L said, Yumi could _hear_ his eyes role, and she realized how pathetic her response had been.

She handed the phone to Wedy, and turned away pouting and trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Hello?" Wedy asked, then suppressed her shock at the synthetic voice.

"Yes?.... oh, I see.... so then I-..... but then..... ok, fine I'll do it..... yes I will..... ok, right, bye." Yumi was annoyed at not being able to hear L's side of the conversation.

Wedy snapped the phone shut and handed it back to Yumi, then stood up.

"So, I guess your on board then?" Yumi asked, not really caring, she already knew the answer. It was an easy choice, break into a place in the middle of nowhere in exchange for a get out of jail free card, Wedy's answer confirmed her thoughts.

"Well, see you later I guess." Yumi said as Wedy began to walk away across the roof.

"Oh, wait, didn't you come hear for something?" Yumi asked the retreating figure.

"I'll get it later." Wedy said, then walked away.

"Oh, ok" Yumi whispered to herself and set a small clear plastic case on the roof next to the air conditioning unit. She closed the panel in the unit and walked away.

The authorities would find it eventually, she thought to herself.

L wouldn't tell her about his plan, that bothered her, and even though Yumi hated to whine, she complained a lot about his secrecy.

The thief Wedy contacted them almost every day, and Yumi listened in on their conversations, but L made it impossible to learn anything from the calls.

Finally, the plan revealed itself to Yumi, on the day of the break in.

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**author's note:** thanks for reading, I started writing late tonight because of homework, but I still finished! Thanks again for reading and reviewing!


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 21**

**The Time To Strike**

Yumi had gone behind L's back for the first time, and used one of the few times that he left the room as a chance to search his computer.

She broke his code lock on the case file and looked through the information, she was uneasy with the feeling of betrayal she was getting as she worked, but she couldn't just act like she didn't care about his plan.

One of the first things that stood out were his thoughts on the motive for the crime. He had found that all the victims had the same blood type. Yumi shuttered at the thought of how that fit into the case, but she was also impressed that he could dig that deeply for the connection.

After he had found the blood connection- shudder- L had searched through hospital records and found that several donations of that blood type had been made to a local medical facility.

The donar was unknown and the blood had already been drawn and packaged.

Yumi didn't like where this was going.

It was easy to figure out the connection from there. Also the records of the donations were kept in the hospital, Wedy had broken into the back room and found the file. A large sum of money had been paid to the donor, and that was the connection.

The culprit was abducting people and draining their blood. Yumi had to take several deep breaths to avoid being sick, the fact that anyone could do that for money was unfathomable to her.

The shower turned off in the other room. Yumi had about five minutes before L came back in and found her. She erased her records of the search and reset the code locks on the computer then she got up and left the building.

Leaving the building wasn't necessary, but Yumi needed fresh air to avoid being sick from the thought of what the victims were going through.

She walked down the street and through a few alleys, she didn't know where she was going, but if she stopped she would more then likely start to cry. She felt helpless, and she hated not being able to help the victims.

This was so wrong how could any person in the world do that to someone else... for money?

Yumi stopped moving and sat in the grass, she had somehow made her way to a small park and she leaned her head against a tree.

_How...? ...Why...? ...Why would someone...?_

Yumi closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. If she had been a victim, what would she be thinking now? She stopped that train of thought fast.

She lay with her head against the tree for a long time, the air was cold and the sky was filled with rain clouds. She decided to go back, L wouldn't worry, but she still shouldn't stay away for too long. With a sigh she placed her hands on the ground beside her and began to lift herself up, she opened her eyes as she stood...

... and froze. No, not froze, for a split second her mind didn't comprehend what she was seeing, then she screamed. In her sudden, unnecessary, panic she had lost her hold on the ground and fell back against the tree.

A few years ago she would not have reacted in that way, but it had been a while. She blinked and rubbed her eyes a few times but the result didn't change. In front of her, bending almost double to see at her eye level, was Kyu.

Yumi waited a minute for her breathing to return to normal, then addressed the shinigami.

"K-Kyu, what are you...?" she tried but her brain stopped working.

"It's been a long time, are you alright?" Kyu asked.

"Y-yes, I'm fine what are you doing here?" she finished her sentence that time.

"I came to tell you, something, something important." Kyu said, standing up as straight as he could without his head phasing through a low branch.

"To tell me something?" Yumi asked not comprehending.

"Yes." Kyu didn't seem to notice the look on Yumi's face.

"You, came here, after ten years, to tell me something? You could have scared me to death just now and you just want to say something?" Yumi tried not to raise her voice, failing that she looked around to make sure that no one was watching her.

"Are you still angry with me?" Kyu asked.

At first Yumi couldn't tell what he meant. Then it all came back, the fight in the square, the only reason that she had left him. And the only reason she had met L. The fight that changed her whole life.

"No, I'm not mad." she said, now she was speaking to him as her friend, he had been there to help her in the beginning of her life and she hadn't thanked him yet.

"Well, then I need to tell you that..." he was cut off as the rain began to pour down. It was a huge storm and Yumi was shocked at how fast it had started.

"I should get going, see you later Kyu!" Yumi had forgotten about the important fact that Kyu had come to tell her, because her thoughts had turned to L. She had been gone a while.

Yumi ran off before Kyu could finish his sentence.

Yumi wasn't lost. She knew where the hideout was, she was just misplaced. Like when she left her clothes in other hideouts, she knew they were there, she just couldn't get to them.

Do to her misplacement Yumi was soaked by the time she had returned to the hideout.

L was on the computer just like Yumi had expected. And he didn't seem too upset about her sudden absence.

Though when she walked in the door to the work room, L did turn around to face her wet form. She was shivering and trying not to look like a soaked cat standing in the doorway.

L didn't hesitate. He knew that Yumi _had_ left her clothes in the last hideout. He pulled his white shirt over his head and tossed it across the room to land on the bed that stood between them.

The shirt landed on the corner of the bed closest to the door, and Yumi knew what he meant.

He didn't really have to say anything in that situation, she got the message on her own. L turned back to the computer.

Yumi was mature enough to understand the difference between a man taking off his shirt and a woman doing so, she knew it was ok for him and he was just being a good friend by helping her to dry off. But in spite of her knowledge, Yumi had to pull the shirt on in under a second to hide the bright pink she had turned.

Once she had his shirt on she pulled hers out from under it and walked to the bathroom to hang it up.

In the bathroom she dropped to her knees. She hadn't expected anything like that to happen, so it took her several minutes to calm down enough to stand. She hung up her shirt and walked back to the computer, to help L.

Something was wrong with her brain, she knew it because the entire time they were working she had to focus all her energy on not staring at him. After ten minutes she was ready to put her wet shirt back on if that meant that she could give his back.

Of course she said nothing about this, it was better not to question his generosity.

They worked late into the night, that only made things worse because he was so pale. The light color of his skin made his bare chest stand out in the dark. Yumi was ready to knock herself out by the time it was acceptable to say she was tiered.

She went to bed still in L's shirt, and rolled away from him as he worked but the computer and the beds were in the same room, so in the end she wound up laying on her back watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Through all of the annoying urges that filled up the night, Yumi found no time to think of anything else. That meant that she had no chance to wonder what Kyu's message had been.

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**author's note:** sorry it's short. Thanks for reading! And reviewing of course! Kyu's back! Ok I'm done for tonight, bye, and thanks again!


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 22**

**Loss**

Yumi hadn't really slept at all that night, but by the time the sun rose she had resolved to keep her eyes closed until she could pretend to wake.

L's typing went on all through the night, Yumi didn't mind, or she didn't say she did, but the noise began to mark time for her.

When the sun was beginning to rise Yumi opened her eyes and looked around the room. She saw what she had hoped to avoid by closing her eyes in the first place. She silently got out of bed, L didn't cease his typing, and walked to the bathroom to retrieve her shirt.

It was dry. Once she had it back on she returned L's shirt to him and sat down in the second computer chair. They sat in silence as L continued to type, then after a few minutes his fingers stopped moving.

L turned to her and opened his mouth to speak, then he closed it again, then he opened it. Yumi wondered if this was some kind of test.

"Tonight Wedy will break into the kidnapper's hideout and the case will be solved." he finally said, Yumi shuddered at the thought of the case.

"Alright." Yumi said she didn't want to tell him about her snooping through his computer.

But, L didn't miss her shudder. "Yumi-"

"I did not!" Yumi shouted cutting him off. She had a guilty conscience she had never known about before.

"I was going to ask if you were still cold from the rain yesterday." L said, Yumi scolded herself inwardly for her outburst.

"No I'm fine." she tried to sound innocent.

"Well then, what didn't you do?" he asked her.

Dang. "Um... I uh..." she looked around for inspiration. None was found, so she told the truth, "I hacked into your computer yesterday, and looked in the case files." Yumi confessed.

"Yes I thought that was what happened." L said, knowingly.

Yumi sighed, of course he knew already.

"Ok, so now you know I know, does that mean you can tell me what your going to do?" Yumi hoped he would solve the case fast and then burn the file, even if it was on the computer.

"I'm having Wedy plant cameras in the house, then in a day or two we turn the footage in to the police and catch the suspect red handed." he said simply, it was an easy plan and it couldn't go wrong at that point but Yumi found a flaw.

"But that means he would have to kill someone!" Yumi tried to point out calmly, and failed.

L was silent, he had found the flaw too.

"We have to-" she started but then realized that his plan was the fastest way to catch the killer, "I'm going too." Yumi announced and stood up.

L looked like he was going to argue at first, but he seemed to understand how she felt and remained silent.

"Then you'll leave at six tonight." L said calmly. Yumi thanked him for understanding.

That night at six, Yumi left the hideout. After a short drive through town and an hour or two in the country, she arrived at the house and met Wedy.

From the front the house looked like a normal ten acre farm house, it was two stories tall and surrounded in tall grass that had obviously never been cut before. It was white washed and the whole property was guarded by a dark iron gate about eight feet tall.

There was a barn in the back yard, that area seemed more secure then the front of the house. It was surrounded by another gate that was a foot taller then the main one, and it had a key pad. There was no way to get in without the code because even from a distance Yumi could tell the fence was electric.

Wedy didn't hesitate to approach the fence and enter a code on the key pad. Yumi didn't doubt for a second that it was the right code and in a moment they were on the other side of the fence to prove that opinion.

They crept silently across the field, or it would have been silently if Yumi hadn't caught sight of Kyu halfway across and almost bit her tough off to keep from talking to him. In her panic over his appearance she had lost sight of her path and nearly collided with Wedy who had stopped to ask what was wrong.

Wedy wouldn't have bought her "nothing" excuse and probably would have questioned her further but there was a noise from inside the barn that drew their attention immediately.

Wedy went over to peek through the doors while Yumi took the chance to speak to Kyu.

"What are you doing?" she whispered fiercely to him.

"I never told you what I meant to last time we met." he said back not whispering at all.

"Does it have to be now?" Yumi asked.

"Yes, I need to say-" he was cut off by Wedy who made a noise halfway between choking and screaming.

Yumi left Kyu to see what was wrong, it was an easy guess.

Through the crack in the barn door, Wedy had seen the room that held the victims. It was large and well lit, and unusually clean for a barn in fact it looked more like a hospital then a barn.

The floor was tiled in white and the walls were painted to match. There were no windows but the door was large and unlocked.

What had caused Wedy's reaction was the large group of people in the back of the room. They had to be alive because they were all bound and gagged with rope. Yumi counted sixteen people, four less then the number of missing people. But she hadn't counted the dead.

In fact even looking at the dead was nauseating for her. There were four bodies, they couldn't be alive because they were all [**now would be a good time to bring up that WARNING: GRAPHIC SCENE!**] hung like raw meat from large hooks in the ceiling.

But worse then that was the fact that they all looked lake they had been skinned.

Yumi almost fainted from the smell of blood alone, but she tightened her resolve and forced herself to remain awake. It was torture to look at, and the fact that she wasn't on the ground losing her breakfast was only due to how she hadn't eaten all day.

She knew that if reading the file made her sick, then seeing the scene would be much worse so she prepared, but she wasn't expecting this.

The people bound in the back caught sight of them and stared with pleading tearful eyes.

Then their expressions changed to one of fear and they began to struggle.

Yumi knew without turning around that this was the part of the horror movie that the whole audience screams "Behind you!" and looks away in fear of what will happen next.

Yumi turned around.

She turned to face a tall muscular man. He wasn't unbearably strong looking and if L had been there too then the three of them would have been able to beat him in a fight, but with just her and Wedy chances didn't look as good.

He had red hair and brown eyes, he was tanned and holding a large club, at first it looked like a baseball bat but in the light from the doorway a thin blade was seen embedded in one side. It ran along the length of the bat like the metal edge of a ruler.

The man stared down at her with a frightening glint in his eyes.

"Move!" Wedy screamed and grabbed Yumi's wrist as the man raised his blade-club.

They both ran through the door and into the barn, the man was fast and caught up to the two of them effortlessly, he swung the club again and barely missed Yumi who had been pushed out of the way by Wedy at the last second.

But the man foresaw that and swung back the other way before Wedy could move, the club struck her side but the blade wasn't on that end so the blow didn't draw blood.

Separated from Wedy who had been guiding her the whole time, Yumi couldn't move at all. Her limbs shook and she lost her footing, as she fell to her knees the man turned back to her. Wedy was recovering but Yumi had distracted the man with her fall.

As the man walked toward her Yumi's body reacted the way her brain couldn't and tried to back up by crawling. She turned and climbed shakily to her feet then tried to run to the back of the room. That was a mistake, because at the back of the room were the dead victims.

Yumi caught sight of this too late and collapsed again, she tried to crawl but turned back toward the man as she reached the dangling feet of a dead man.

She raised her arms in a useless attempt to block the club, but the attempt only succeeded in gaining a large cut across her arms.

She fell back to the panic default method of screaming in terror. This did nothing but madden the killer further, and soon she was full of cuts.

Wedy had recovered but was too far away now to help before Yumi passed out from blood loss.

The man raised the club again and the blade glinted cruelly in the light of the barn, but then before he could strike her with the club, the man screamed. He dropped the club and clutched his chest in pain then fell to his knees screamed a final time and lay still.

The red aura faded from the body.

Yumi trembled with fear over what had just happened.

The red aura... the aura that marked a death note... had just saved her life.

But Yumi had never written the man's name, and the only other person Yumi knew with a notebook was Kyu, that had to be it.

Yumi couldn't support her own body at that point so the shear strength of her desire to thank Kyu for saving her was all that got her to the door.

She walked slowly out of the barn, she was covered in blood and cuts so she hadn't expected to make it outside. She looked around but she couldn't see Kyu anywhere.

The shinigami had disappeared.

Yumi saw a faint glint to her right and turned toward it thinking to find Kyu standing there waiting to tell her his message. But he wasn't there, all that was there was pile of grey dust, and in that pile was the source of the glint.

Kyu's death note.

Yumi wondered at first why he would leave it behind, she knew he needed it.

She walked over slowly the truth becoming clearer with each step.

She bent over and picked up the notebook.

She flipped through the pages until she found the last page that had been filled out.

The page was a little behind the other filled out pages, like he had turned to it at random.

Yumi finally came to the realization that Kyu hadn't left it behind by accident when he left, he had .... died...

Yumi hadn't understood it at first, but she remembered something he had said to her when she was five years old.

She had considered him her best and only friend, so it wasn't unusual for her to ask him for a bedtime story.

He had told her a story about how he had seen a shinigami die once, it was a bad story to her at the time, but now she realized that it was true. And it had just happened again.

Kyu had died saving her from the death that was fated to happen. That was the only way a shinigami could die, with that discovery Yumi realized what the news had been.

The message he had tried to tell her had been that she was going to die.

Yumi couldn't hold herself up anymore. Even though it had been years since she had seen Kyu, he had been her friend, he had always helped her figure things out when she was little and now he was gone.

She fell to her knees again, but this time it was out of morning for her friend. She held his death note to her chest and shook with the weight of her sadness.

She heard someone talking from inside the building and guessed it was Wedy, probably on a cell phone or to the victims.

Yumi didn't care really, but something was clear to her.

She couldn't keep the death note in plain sight. She was too scared and too upset to move around so the best she could do was hide it under her shirt. A few minutes later police arrived on the scene.

Wedy was already gone, but Yumi was still there when the cars pulled up.

She crawled around the side of the house to avoid the men who ran up to the door and burst in to free the victims.

Yumi considered staying where she was until she starved to death, or something else to avoid showing L what a mess she was.

She hated being weak, and she hated it even more when he was there to see it.

Unfortunately he ignored his code of safety and came to find her after a while. The black car pulled up into the driveway and the messy haired boy got out with Watari. Yumi decided to keep quiet hoping they would give up and go away.

She wasn't that lucky, L was a genius and in a minute or two he had found her hiding spot.

She saw him coming and made certain that he couldn't see the death note, she also made sure that he couldn't touch it through the fabric.

Yumi expected L to help her up and tell her they should go back to the hideout before they were seen. The first part he did.

He helped her stand up and began to speak, but at that moment Yumi's delayed reactions to everything that had happened that night caught up with her.

She shook and gasped for air, then collapsed. L moved faster then Yumi had thought he could and caught her before she fell back down to the ground.

Her weight was a bit much for him to hold, though, so both of them wound up on their knees in the dirt. Yumi didn't worry about the death note under her shirt, he couldn't touch it and even if he could, he wouldn't see Kyu.

But the position they were in was too much for Yumi and she started to cry, it was one tear at first, one for Kyu. Then it was another for the victims, then she was sobbing into L's shoulder as he tried to calm her down.

He held her against his chest as she cried, the tears were soaking his white shirt but he didn't seem to notice. Yumi was mostly a quiet crier but in this case all the things that she hadn't cried about but should have were coming out at once.

L tried to hold onto her, but she was shaking and sobbing with such force that he would have had to crush her to keep her still, they sat on the ground in that same position for several minutes before Yumi calmed down enough to realize how awkward her friend must feel, with her clinging to him and sobbing into his chest.

She tried to choke out an apology but he dismissed the incident as ok, Yumi was surprised that he had understood what she had said but then went back to crying.

By the time she had stopped Watari had found them, and they had returned to the car.

On the drive back to the hideout, Yumi had fallen asleep in the car, she was leaning on L's shoulder as she slept, so when she woke up his shirt was soaked with tears.

The next day they received a message from Watari, they had solved the case, and won the challenge between the two of them and the world's greatest detectives.

Eraldo Coil and Deneuve had left the detective busyness on and unknown condition that L had made.

Then once the coast was clear, Yumi left the hideout, she walked several blocks away, tore out one page and burned the death note. She folded the page as small as it would go and hid it in a pocket she had added to the inside of her skirt hem.

She walked back to the hideout to meet with L, then the left for the next case as the top detective in the world.

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**author's note:** that was long, sorry about the gore in the middle, it made me sick thinking about it today, but I toned it way down as I wrote. Nasty, but thanks for reading, and happy weekend! See you Monday. Thanks again!


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 23**

**Hour Glass**

Yumi lay on her stomach on the floor of her old Wammy's House bedroom. Her head rested on her left palm and her legs kicked the air slowly. With her right hand she was fitting together the pieces of a blank puzzle.

She was twenty-one now and she was visiting Wammy's with L and Watari. The window was open and the sounds of children running and playing in the yard echoed through the white walled room.

L was in the main office, talking with Watari and Roger, he was always leaving her to entertain the kids while he talked to Roger, who was the house caretaker while Watari was out with L and Yumi.

Across from Yumi sat a white haired ten-year-old, who was also working on the puzzle. And there was a eleven-year-old boy who stood leaning against the wardrobe eating a bar of chocolate.

These two boys were the best at Wammy's house, the focus of the home had changed since Yumi had left. Now the main point and goal of the children there was to succeed L.

Yumi didn't know why L would need a successor, he was in perfect health and no one knew he was L so he wasn't in any real danger from his job. Yumi's only sensible theory was that all people die eventually and another L had to be ready when that happened.

The thought of L dying made Yumi sick so she pushed it out of her mind. She thought about the two boys across from her, they were still young just ten and eleven years old.

Mello and Near.

Their names were the exact opposites of their personalities, Near was very distant and focused only on what he could deduce with his head. Mello was the opposite, he was rash and moved on emotion only, he often didn't think things through and overlooked important things, he had a fiery temper and because of that he was second to Near when it came to succeeding L.

Yumi saw her and L in them, L was Near thinking things through and not getting carried away over a fast conclusion. And Yumi was Mello, she based most of her choices on spur of the moment decisions, she jumped to conclusions and, though she wasn't usually wrong, she still needed to rein in her temper.

Also, Mello was always second to Near. Yumi was always second to L.

But there was a difference...

"Miss Yumi?" Yumi blinked as the voice pierced through her thoughts, it was Near who had spoken he looked up at her, he had L's eyes.

"That piece goes right there." he said and Yumi looked back at the puzzle, it had been nearly completed while she had been distracted. She had been running one piece through her fingers while absently staring forward.

"Show off." Mello muttered, Yumi pushed the piece into it's place and picked up another.

The difference between her and L, and Near and Mello was that Near and Mello refused to work together, they competed over everything, while L and Yumi cooperated on everything they did.

Near and Mello were two halves of one whole just like L and Yumi but they refused to acknowledge that. They continued to compete while failing to notice how much better they would be if they worked together.

Yumi sighed and pushed the last puzzle piece into place, it was the piece that was half black and half white because it was part of the black letter L in one corner of the puzzle.

"Miss Yumi can we go outside and play now?" Mello asked, he was more the sports type and only stayed inside with them while they solved the puzzle because Yumi was half of L.

"Ok, sure." Yumi said and stood up but as she moved towards the door it opened in front of her. L opened the door though he didn't come into the room, both the children's attention was drawn to him but he didn't really seem to notice, he seemed distracted.

"Yumi, we should leave now." he said then closed the door and walked down the stairs.

Yumi wondered why he was in such a hurry, their visits were few and far between so Yumi had been hoping to stay a while. She pouted but said goodbye to the disappointed boys and followed L down the stairs.

In the car Yumi voiced her concern for him.

"Why have you been so depressed? You were fine when we got here." she asked, he turned to look out the window, and Yumi thought at first that he wasn't going to answer her.

"We have another case." he said flatly, "in Los Angeles"

"LA? Sure that's far but... we still could have stayed longer." Yumi complained she liked visiting Wammy's.

"No, we have to solve this case quickly." he said still looking out the window.

"Ok, are you going to tell me what it is?" Yumi was getting annoyed with him now.

"A serial murderer has killed three victims in Los Angeles, we need to find the killer before he adds a fourth victim to his list." L said.

"Only three?" Yumi asked without thinking, L had ruled out murder cases with less then ten victims back when they were fourteen.

"Yes, but there could be a fourth if we don't act quickly, can you find someone?" he finally turned towards her.

Yumi sighed as she reached for the laptop under the seat.

"Who do you want? Police? FBI? CIA? Private detective? What?" she asked as she worked on hacking a private bureau database.

"Who ever's skilled and available." he said.

"That's specific." Yumi muttered to herself.

She looked through FBI first, L wasn't being picky about who they used so she went with the first person she saw on the list.

FBI agent Naomi Misora, currently on leave for one reason or another.

She showed L her choice and he consented as they boarded the plane to the USA.

Late that night Yumi sat outside a small apartment building, she felt like a stalker, not that she was one she just had to wait for Misora to leave the building.

After an hour of waiting she was rewarded as Naomi Misora left the building and kick started her motorcycle. Her form disappeared down the road and Yumi stood up.

She caught herself thinking about how much she wanted one of those. She felt like the only girl she knew without a motorcycle, Wedy had on, and so did Misora.

Dismissing the thought Yumi approached the building.

It was a small apartment and it wasn't very safe, the lock was easy to pick, once inside, Yumi went strait for the computer.

She turned it on and opened the e-mail with a guess at the password, once she was into the program she took out her cell phone and called L. He answered on the first ring and Yumi told him that she had turned on the computer, to put it in a term she had picked up from Wedy, "Security was a joke" L ignored this and sent an e-mail to the computer.

Yumi left it on and locked the door on her way out.

The reason she had broken into the apartment in the first place was that no amount of hacking could turn a computer on from the back end, and leaving the computer on was a step to insure that Misora would find the e-mail quickly.

Yumi was dropped off at the warehouse they were currently staying in at around one am.

"Home sweet home," she said to herself, "for the next five minutes." she finished complaining and walked in.

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**author's note:** sorry short, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! See you tomorrow! And thanks again!


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 24**

**L.A.B.B.**

It was almost nine in the morning, Yumi was busy breaking through the firewall on the third block of the third section of the funny dish server.

She was using L's computer and he sat silently behind her watching her work through the wall.

At exactly nine in the morning she broke through, she stood up and let L approach the microphone. She moved to her computer and sat silently while L spoke to Misora, honestly Yumi felt left out, not to mention under appreciated. L had asked her to break through the firewall into the server, then–without a "thank you" or a "good job"– he sent her to the back of the room.

It would have been understandable if he had done this to avoid the microphone picking up the conversation, but even after the connection between L and Misora had ended he said nothing.

After he had given Misora her instructions L went strait to work checking through police records from the last two weeks, Yumi had a feeling that he was looking for a warning that the murderer had left a few days before the crime.

This theory was based on a bias Yumi had, she had learned that when criminals left marks at the scene on purpose to link crimes, they also sent preemptive warnings to advertise what they would do.

The marks in this case were straw dolls, they were commonly called Wara Ningyo and popular in japan. They were found nailed to the walls at all three scenes, four at the first scene three a the second and two at the third.

Not only because of the decreasing number of dolls, but also because of the escalating amount of damage done to each body, L had come to the conclusion that a fourth murder would take place.

What Yumi still found strange was that even if there was a fourth murder the murders would stop there. In the past, or at least since they were fourteen years old, L had only solved murder cases with ten or more victims.

Yumi didn't see why this case seemed so important to L, and as she tapped absently on her keyboard things got stranger still.

"Yumi, come here." L said from across the room.

Yumi stood up and walked over to him, he was speaking to Watari and just as Yumi reached him and was about to ask why he had called her over, Watari disconnected, L closed the window and showed Yumi a picture of a slip of paper.

Yumi guessed it was a crossword puzzle, but she didn't see much about it that would link it to the case.

L opened his mouth to speak, but Yumi beat him to it.

"I want to hear you say thank you, right now." She said, though she wasn't sure why she was brining this up now. "Go ahead, say it, I found your agent, I hacked your server, and I sat quietly being completely ignored for five minutes while you spoke to that agent on the server I hacked, now thank me or you can solve the case yourself!" Yumi knew she was acting stupid, but the fact that he was taking her for granted and then ignoring her completely was getting on her nerves.

She waited patiently for his reply.

L looked down at the floor, Yumi put her hands on her hips and waited.

"Your right, I'm sorry, thank you." L said, though Yumi got the feeling he was only saying that so he could show her what he had wanted to show her.

She decided that it was good enough.

"Ok, what did you want to show me?" she asked and he explained that the crossword puzzle had been sent to the police nine days before the first murder.

The next day Yumi was at her computer, she sat staring at the screen.

It was off.

She sighed as the phone rang.

L answered and Yumi listened to the one sided conversation between L and Misora.

It went on for a while then L brought up the crossword puzzle, he explained how it had been too difficult for several police officers working together to solve.

Then he continued.

"I solved it." he said.

Yumi cleared her throat loudly to bring up the fact that _they_ had solved it _together_.

He gave her a "don't blow our cover" look then turned back to the call.

Yumi frowned at him.

After another few minutes of talking L said goodbye and hung up.

But he also mentioned how to contact him again.

"...next time you call me please use the number five line, Naomi Misora." he said then hung up.

Yumi sighed in annoyance as she slid her cell phone across the floor to him. He picked it up and put it on top of the computer, she had never bothered to mention the fact that he had never established lines one through four. Then Yumi asked another question that had been bothering her lately.

"Why do you do that?" Yumi asked, there was no anger in her voice, but if he didn't answer, well, the anger would come.

"If I had said_ we_ solved it then Misora would ask "who's we?" and then I would have to explain that there are two of us working on this case." he said flatly, he knew exactly what she meant.

"Well if you told her then I wouldn't have to pretend I don't exist every time the phone rings."

"That's true..." he started but Yumi stood up.

"I'm going out." she announced and left the room.

She liked being able to help L, he was her best friend after all, but lately he had been less and less appreciative of her help.

He worked all through the night and then through the next day, he never thanked her for her help anymore and she was always forced to act like she didn't care about the facts that he obviously wasn't telling her.

She walked down the street her irritation over the current behavior of her friend drove her to greater and greater speeds. Then as she turned a corner she stopped abruptly. In her attempt to burn off stress through fast walking she had ignored the fact that she had been walking in a complete circle.

Above her loomed the grey mass of the warehouse.

Yumi scowled at her misdirection then decided that she had walked long enough.

She walked back to the work room and sat down at her computer, she crossed her arms and frowned at the ground for no reason at all.

Her phone rang from it's place on L's computer. He picked it up, which forced Yumi to be quiet again.

"What is it, Naomi Misora?" L asked, Yumi's phone– just like L's– was equipped with a synthetic voice.

"Progress in the case? Very fast work." Yumi could only hear L's side of the conversation but she got the point.

"Wonderful." he said.

"I see." he was about to say something, when Yumi chimed in.

"See what?" she asked in a whisper, L had just enough time to cover the speaker with his thumb before the voice could be picked up.

He listened to Misora speak again then asked a question of his own.

"Was he cool?"

"Hunh?" Yumi asked just as she heard the voice on the other side of the phone make a similar noise.

That was it. Yumi nearly tackled L in an attempt to hear the conversation. Some how in the midst of the wrestling match over the phone L managed to repeat his question, then Yumi won out over her friend and pulled the phone to her ear.

"No, absolutely not," Misora said through the phone, Yumi wondered who she was talking about but Misora wasn't done, "Creepy and pathetic, and so suspicious that if I weren't on leave, I'd move to arrest him the moment I laid eyes on him. If we divided everyone in the world into those that would be better off dead and those who wouldn't, there's no doubt in my mind that he would be the former. Such a complete freak that it amazes me he hasn't killed himself."

At that moment the pieces clicked together in Yumi's mind.

She handed the phone back to L and removed herself from where she had been sitting on his chest.

"It's better that you didn't hear that." she whispered, guiltily.

"So, Naomi Misora, your instructions." he said without waiting for her to speak, he didn't bother getting off the floor before he explained what Misora should do about the "private detective" then he told her to use line five again next call and hung up.

He stayed on the floor, laying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

After a while Yumi gave up on waiting for him to rise and lay down on the floor by his side.

She wasn't mad anymore.

"I'm sorry I sat on you." she said to fill the silence.

"Don't worry, your quite light." he said, Yumi took that as a compliment.

"Thanks." she said and continued to lay on the floor staring at the ceiling with her best friend.

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**author's note:** that didn't take as long to write as I thought... well thanks for reading! That last part was one of my favorite parts of the book, the abundance of insults was impressive in my opinion. Well thanks again, and this morning when I checked my stats I had 81 reviews and 4900 hits on this story. What's funny about that to me is that the square root of 81 is nine. Which makes 9,4,9,9. Weird coincidence. Ok, thanks!


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 25**

**Connection**

Yumi was tapping her fingers against the floor, she had nothing to do and it had now been one day since her first phone call with Misora.

Today Misora and the private detective "Ryuzaki" were going to investigate the second scene. L was out of the room and Yumi had a guess or two as to why, but she wouldn't have mentioned either of them to L had he been present.

Yumi was bored out of her mind, she sighed and lay back on the floor staring at the ceiling.

"Ok." she said to herself. "If L can go out then so can I." she stood up and started toward the door. Then something dawned on her, she looked back at L's computer and saw her cell phone on top of the monitor.

Common sense said leave it but Yumi ignored this.

She crossed the room and grabbed her phone, she pushed it into her pocket and left the warehouse.

While she walked down the street Yumi made a decision on what to do with her free time.

She would investigate the second crime scene herself.

As she turned down an ally, having decided to take a short cut, she heard a noise behind her. She jogged the rest of the way down the ally and turned the corner, then she looked back the way she had come to see what the noise had been.

Yumi almost laughed as she saw Naomi Misora walking down the ally. She played with the idea of introducing herself but pushed it away. L wouldn't like it much if Yumi approached Misora.

Then Yumi's thoughts were disrupted as a figure wearing a mask ran at Misora from behind. Yumi was hidden from the attacker's view but she still pushed herself closer to the wall.

As Yumi confirmed that the attacker was after Misora she readied herself to help.

Before she could act, however, Misora ducked under a blow from the masked figure without even turning around, then kicked up with her leg aiming for the man– for it was obviously a man– he dodged but Misora was now facing him.

She took a fighting stance as the man swung at her with a wooden club, Misora dodged the blow and swung her legs up aiming for the man's temple with her heal. She missed and was back in her stance ready for more.

But the attacker was less enthusiastic about the fight and took off running back down the ally. Misora didn't follow him and Yumi could guess why.

Then Misora took out her phone. Yumi wondered why and then–

her cell phone rang, it was on vibrate so Misora didn't hear but Yumi had to sprint around the corner away from Misora.

By the time Yumi reached the warehouse, Misora had already stopped calling. A few days ago or even an hour ago, Yumi would have answered the phone even when she was standing right around the corner from the caller.

But after seeing Misora fight off an attacker, Yumi felt it more important to reach L and let him know about the fight.

L was at the computer when Yumi got back inside, she took a minute to catch her breath after the run the she started to explain.

L didn't move or speak through Yumi's entire story, but that had been what she had been expecting.

When she had finished she looked at him and waited for a response.

And waited...

After several minutes of silence Yumi lost her patience.

"So, what do you think?" she asked him.

"Did you see the man who had attacked her?" L asked her back.

"No, well yes but not his face." Yumi answered.

"How far away from him were you?"

"About fifty feet, why?"

"Well at that distance you wouldn't have been able to tell..." L faded out, Yumi knew that asking "what?" wouldn't do much.

After L's last comment they went back to work.

It was around noon when Yumi started to wonder something about the case.

"The next murder's on the 17th, right? That's in one day so shouldn't we–" she was cut off.

"No." L said, "not one day."

"Not the 17th?" Yumi asked.

"No, the 22nd." he said.

"What? But that's nine days between the crossword puzzle coming to the police and the first murder, then four days between the first murder and the second, and nine days between the second and third murders, so shouldn't it be another four days to even it out?" she asked.

"No, don't look at the time between the murders, look at the dates themselves." he said and gave her a minute to figure it out. She didn't get it.

"How does that work? The crossword puzzle came on the 22nd, the first murder on the 31st, then the second on the 4th, and the third on the 13th, those dates have nothing in common at all." Yumi felt stupid over not being to figure out a conclusion that L had already reached.

"Base it off thirteen." he said to give her a hint.

Yumi thought the numbers over again and this time a solution came.

"So you can make thirteen with all of them, what does that mean? Why thirteen, you can make four out of all of them too?" she asked.

"What does thirteen look like when you write the numbers too close together?" he asked, Yumi felt like a child being taught the alphabet.

Wait. Thirteen looked like... B? What did that mean?

"But what does that have to do with it? B, sure it comes up a lot, all the victims names... can be B but what does that...?" she didn't know what to make of his deduction. It seemed easy enough to understand when you knew what to look for but how was B going to help catch the killer?

Around that moment L was cut off by the phone ringing, it was Misora L started the conversation with simple questions on the investigation, then he brought up the attack in the ally.

He didn't say anything direct like, "I heard about your fight." or "Who was your attacker?" because it would show that he knew about the attack, and that would cause questions to be asked.

Instead he told her to be careful, then he asked her a question involving different types of martial arts.

He listened to her answer and a confused look appeared on his face.

Yumi wondered what it meant but didn't ask.

Then L listened to her speak again and said something about videos.

After that he explained the date of the fourth murder attempt, and a minute later he hung up.

"What videos?" Yumi asked.

"Hmm..." L ignored her and focused on his computer screen as he looked something up. Yumi gave up.

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**author's note:** sorry short chapter and I'm pretty sure some sentences aren't grammatically correct. Oh well, thanks for reading anyway! See you tomorrow!


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 26**

**The Case is Solved**

It was early morning on August 22nd, it had to be at least five in the morning but Yumi couldn't really tell.

L was typing something on his computer across the room, Yumi was laying on the floor staring at the ceiling, blankly.

It was the day of the fourth murder, the case was, supposedly, solved but L was still working on something.

Misora and the private detective Ryuzaki were staying in the hotel rooms of two possible victims, they were trying to catch the killer by pretending to be the victims.

The flaw with this, was that there was no way of really knowing which room would be the target. Because of this both possible targets were being sent away to a hotel for the next two days while the case was solved.

Another problem was that if the killer attacked one of them backup would be too far away to help in time.

To solve this problem L had posted a few people outside the building and had told Wedy and Aiber to stay inside and help if the need should arise.

But even this plan had flaws, the main one being Aiber's gun aversion. Yumi had only met Aiber once or twice, but in that time she had learned that Aiber had a wife and a young son. A few years before, Aiber had left a loaded gun on the table in the house and wasn't watching it.

His son had found it and accidently shot himself in the arm, they got him to the hospital and the wound was tended, it was just a graze and it was fixed good as new but Aiber hadn't picked up a gun since that.

This left Aiber unarmed if the killer attacked him and Yumi was nervous about that, but she let it go, L had faith in Aiber and Yumi trusted him.

With nothing to do Yumi continued to stare at the ceiling of the warehouse, it was grey and supported by iron bars. Yumi sighed, there wasn't much to do at this point, all that was left was to wait for the killer to strike.

Before another five minutes had passed, Yumi had fallen asleep on the floor.

She dreamed of Kyu and L.

Kyu was standing across a short distance from her, he was much taller then she would ever be, but that had never bothered her before.

L was standing by her side, but Yumi herself was sitting on the floor.

Kyu and L seemed to be carrying on a conversation, and they looked to be getting along fine as opposed to the last time Yumi had dreamed of Kyu.

Yumi couldn't focus enough on the conversation to understand what they were saying but she didn't mind, the conversation must not concern her.

Then something rang through the blur of words, Yumi at that moment began to wonder why she couldn't hear what L was saying even though he was right next to her.

Kyu was farther away then L but his words were the first that she understood. Her hearing returned with a pop, like she had yawned on an airplane.

"It's the eyes." Kyu said, Yumi hadn't heard his voice in years so at first she couldn't focus on the actual words, but then her curiosity got the better of her and she asked what he meant.

"The shinigami eyes," he said, "they give a shinigami the ability to see a person's name and life span by looking at their face." Yumi didn't see how that mattered, she didn't understand why she needed to know it.

"A human can also gain the eyes." he continued, "through a trade with the shinigami who once owned a death note that the human now possesses."

"A human with eyes...?" Yumi felt something trying to force it's way into her mind, but even if she tried to remember what it was, it couldn't be found.

After a while of sitting in silence with both L and Kyu watching her, as she tried to grab the thought she became too frustrated with her own mind to think anymore.

Then L spoke.

"Ryuzaki." he said simply, and Yumi sat for a while waiting for the rest of a sentence to follow that word before she began to wonder what it meant.

Ryuzaki... R

R– red,

red, red glow...

R.. B,

B, 13, R red, glow–

No, red, not glow, mist shiny mist, no red....

Red mist, glow aura!

Red aura!

Eyes, red aura, B.... that was it!

Yumi leapt off the floor before she was completely awake and ran from the warehouse.

She checked the clock on her phone as she ran, it was around five thirty pm, Yumi had slept a long time, but she was awake now and had to reach–

She knew it was too far to run so she used her phone to call a cab, she got into the car and yelled out the address to the driver who then began to drive through the LA streets.

By the time the cab reached the building it was around six o'clock, Yumi ran inside and up the stairs, she had memorized the floor plan the day before just to keep herself busy, but now she was thankful to her boredom for preparing her so well.

As she passed the fourth floor she turned a sharp corner and almost crashed into a woman going at a fast pace down the hall.

It was Misora, and she had a gun, Yumi had six seconds to think, if she didn't looked bothered by the fact that a random person had just passed her with a gun then Misora could look back on it as suspicious later.

So to avoid suspicion, Yumi screamed.

Misora didn't looked surprised by the scream and began to run off down the hall, Yumi followed her at a safe distance until she came to the door of room 404.

Misora went in, but Yumi hesitated, if she went into the room too, would that mean she was following Misora?

Tailing people never looked normal in this kind of situation, but then Yumi heard three gun shots and a loud bang from inside the room.

That settled it, Yumi approached the room and was almost hit by Misora who was running back out, once Misora had passed, Yumi went inside and saw the cause for her haste.

The door across the room from the main door was open, the handle was shot off and the room on the other side was filled with flames!

A second or two later Misora returned with a fire extinguisher, she hosed the flames with the white foam until they went out then entered the room, and was out of sight.

In her haste to put out the fire, Misora hadn't noticed Yumi standing in the room, but as Yumi walked into the room after Misora, she was met with a scene that made her stomach turn.

The room was destroyed, that was easy enough to see, but there were also other things that Yumi noticed, first: the Wara Ningyo hanging from the wall about waist high opposite the door.

Then: Misora and a man on the floor, Misora had just handcuffed the man even though Yumi didn't see that as a necessary measure to take.

Handcuffs were used to insure a suspect didn't get away, but the man was so badly burnt he wouldn't have been able to move in any case.

As Yumi walked within a few feet of the man, her suspicions were confirmed.

The man's eyes were surrounded in the red aura of the death note, the aura of the shinigami eyes.

Yumi remembered ten years ago on her last day at Wammy's house, the boy she had seen who looked like L, but when she got close enough his eyes glowed red.

The dream had reminded her of that boy.

The conversation with Misora had been about him.

L had known about him... and he hadn't told her...

Ten years ago, when the boy had looked at her, he couldn't see her name, she had no name, and he had tried hard to see it which made him take a step closer to her, that was when she had seen the eyes.

The aura she couldn't feel, she could only see it.

She could only see the eyes.

Misora told Yumi to call the police, she said she was FBI and that she needed the police and an ambulance.

Yumi left the room and made the call, ten minutes later, the police arrived and the man ,Ryuzaki, was taken to the hospital.

He survived, and he was convicted as the perpetrator of the Los Angeles BB Murder Case.

Beyond Birthday, he said his name was, when Yumi went to visit him in the hospital.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, the fact that he was from Wammy's made Yumi wonder why he was a murderer.

"To beat L." he answered. He hadn't completely recovered yet but he would live.

"You would kill yourself for that?" Yumi couldn't think of a scenario that would make it ok to commit suicide for that reason.

"..." B took a deep breath, his lungs weren't in the best condition, had Misora been two minutes later he would have died of smoke inhalation alone.

"Why can't I see your name, and I can't see when your going to die?" he asked her, it was off topic but Yumi understood his curiosity.

"I... have no name." she said to him.

"But when will you die?" Yumi was sure he could have phrased that better.

"I don't know." she answered honestly. "I don't know...."

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**author's note:** sorry if anyone's OOC, I don't know BB as well as I wish I did. Thanks for reading! And thanks for the reviews!


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 27**

**Splintering**

It was three days after the case had been solved and two days after Yumi's visit to the hospital.

She had begun to wonder if she could have stopped the murders from happening. In the hospital she had asked B how he had chosen his victims and he had told her, partly out of bragging about his abilities.

He had said that he had chosen people who were fated to die that day, he had seen their life spans with his shinigami eyes and chose them as victims.

At the time Yumi had found that little more then interesting and moved on to the next question, but now two days later she began to wonder if the victims were fated to die because B was fated to kill them, and if so was B fated to kill them because they were fated to die?

If that was why the victims were fated to die, it meant that they only died because B had chosen them with his shinigami eyes. If he hadn't possessed the eyes in the first place, then he never would have known they were going to die and he never would have decided to kill them.

But even after six days had passed since the case, Yumi couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she had approached B the first time she had noticed his eyes, what if she had gone to him and asked him to come with her and L?

B was undeniably clever or he wouldn't have thought things through so well, but what if she had seen his eyes and asked him to come along with her, then he would have been working with her and L and if that was the case then he never would have become a murderer, and he wouldn't have chosen the victims to kill.

Did that mean Yumi could have prevented the murders?

She didn't know but she was certain of one thing, the murders weren't caused by Beyond Birthday, but by his shinigami eyes.

On September thirty first Yumi placed a large amount of money into Misora's bank account, she had used the name of a company that didn't exist on purpose, L had told her to do so to make sure that Misora would know it was L's payment.

When she got back from the bank she was met with a strange sight.

"Dance videos?" she asked L who was staring at his computer as two people moved around in patterns graceful enough to be a dance but they were also kicking out at each other while they moved.

"Capoeira." L said.

"Is that a word I should know?" Yumi asked.

"It's a South American form of martial arts." he clarified.

"Oh..." Yumi gave up on questions and watched the video with him.

They watched several Capoeira videos throughout the night and by two in the morning Yumi had seem enough, she thought the style was interesting and saw sense in most of the tactics used, but she still left L in the main room and went to bed.

As she left the room she didn't notice L get up, but from all the thumping and banging she heard from the room, Yumi had no problem guessing what he was doing.

The next morning she was awakened by a particularly loud crash from the workroom.

She leapt out of bed and ran to the other room only to find L attempting to reattach the two halves of a wooden table Yumi had never before noticed they had owned.

With her help L managed to brace the crack with some spare wood from behind the warehouse.

It was then that L announced that he was going out.

"Out? Out where?" Yumi asked, she realized it was rude to ask, after all L never asked her where she went, but that could have been because he didn't care enough to ask.

He didn't answer her and in another minute he had left the building.

Without another way to distract herself, Yumi began to think about the murders again.

She thought it was best to go back to bed, but she was never meant to make it that far, instead she lay down on her back on the workroom floor and stared at the ceiling, she found it easier to think this way.

If B had chosen to kill the victims because they were fated to die, then would they have still died if he hadn't chosen to kill them?

It was one of those "the chicken or the egg?" questions that Yumi could never answer, so she looked at it differently.

If she had spoken to B could she have stopped the murders that he hadn't even thought about committing until years later?

Even though she had no way of knowing what would have happened back then, she still blamed herself for not talking to him, and because she hadn't stopped him from committing the murders years in advance, she blamed herself for the victims deaths.

It was her fault.

At that moment L returned to the warehouse and a few seconds later he had entered the workroom, it had been an hour or two since he had left, so Yumi had been on the floor a while but she instantly sprang up when she noticed a difference in his appearance.

"That bruise is huge! What did you do?!" she shouted as she ran to examine the large round bruise on his cheek.

"I fell down the subway entrance." he said flatly.

Yumi fingered the bruise, trying to be gentle but L still winced at her touch.

"You fell down...? what? Since when do you ride the subway?" she changed her question several times before she decided what she wanted to know first.

"I didn't ride the subway." L said.

"Then how did you fall down the entrance?" she tried to calm down when she realized that she was starting to sound like his mom.

"Capoeira is quite different in real life from how it is in the videos." L said changing the subject completely.

"What? How is that related to falling down the subway entrance?" she asked while searching for the connection between the two.

She found none.

L didn't answer, he grabbed her hand which she had forgotten to remove from his cheek, and moved it back to her side. Then he turned and walked over to his computer.

"We have another case." he said.

We? Yumi hadn't noticed much "we" in the past few weeks.

"It's another murder case in..."

Murder, Yumi could have prevented those murders, could her ability to sense shinigami and their death notes stop more murders from happening?

Yes, it could. She was sure of it.

"I don't think I'll be coming with you." she decided out loud.

L turned toward her, his eyes were filled with confusion... and something else...

"I think I'll leave, I can live on my own for a while, I am twenty-one years old." she said when L was silent.

He couldn't think of anything to say. What could he say? Yumi had a right to leave if she wanted, he couldn't stop her if she wanted to go.

"That's fine." he said after a while and turned away from her, back to the computer and the case.

Yumi didn't feel like saying goodbye, she just walked away.

But by the time she was a block away, her cell phone was ringing, she knew who it was even before she answered, L was the only one with her number.

"Your leaving already?" he asked, it was a synthetic voice.

"Yes." she said.

"What about your things? You left them here." he wondered, Yumi remembered asking a similar question on their last day at Wammy's house.

"I don't need them." she said, that had been his answer. Ten years ago.

"Oh, well, good luck." he said, that was similar to her answer ten years ago.

She almost laughed at the irony.

L hung up.

Then the mask broke, Yumi was suddenly angry, angry at L for not making her stay, angry at Watari for helping her meet L, angry at Kyu for dying in her place, and angry at herself for not having enough people to be angry at.

She slammed her phone against the nearest wall, it cracked in several places from the impact. The streets were deserted, it was too far away from the main body of LA for innocent bystanders to be walking around.

She threw the phone to the ground and started running, she ran as hard as she could as fast as she could for a long time, then she stopped several blocks away and fell to her knees exhausted and there on the street in the cold air, she began to cry.

She sobbed into the ground, she thought of the last time she had cried at all, even a little, and the only instance that came to mind was five years ago, when Kyu had died.

That night L had–

Thinking about L made her sob harder.

After several minutes of crying, Yumi passed out on the street.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

L sat in the dark of the workroom.

He had dropped his phone after he had hung up, and for the first time in his life, L regretted not being more forceful, he regretted not asking her to stay.

At first, all he could think about was the fact that she had walked away from him, without saying goodbye.

Then he tried to distract himself by thinking about finding a new hacker, but that made the memories even more painful, he took a wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket, it had been unfolded and refolded so many times, L wondered how it was still in one piece.

He opened the page again, it was a drawing of a small girl and her friend holding a large trophy.

When he had first received it for his tenth birthday, he had thought it was a very good representation, but as he grew older it began to feel more and more childish.

But he still kept it, for twelve years now he had kept it in his pocket, taking it out when he was alone.

Yumi didn't know he had it, he hadn't told her.

L refolded the slip of paper and gently returned it to his pocket.

Yumi was gone. But he wouldn't forget.

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**author's note:** dang I'm late. I accidently erased this chapter halfway through writing it, then I stormed around the house feeling angry for a while, and then I got over it and wrote the thing again. So thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 28**

**Gap**

Yumi was twenty-three years old.

She was living in the Kanto region of Japan and had been living there for almost two years now, it was around noon on November twenty eighth 2003 and she was walking through a back ally.

Two years ago, she had been a completely different person from who she was now, and before that...

Yumi refused to remember her life before that day to years ago, the day when she had woken up on an LA back street her face covered in tears.

_It was colder when Yumi woke, and there was a slight breeze that hadn't been there before, but before she registered_ _either_ _of these things she cried out at the hard object that collided with her stomach._

"_Hey, You homeless?" a voice asked her, she didn't recognize it at all but she wanted to know what had hit her._

_She uncurled herself and looked up into the face of a young man, he was about her age maybe a little older, and he had clearly kicked her in the stomach._

_Yumi rubbed the bruise on her ribs then looked the man over more closely, he wasn't tall, but he seemed well built, and he wore a red t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, his eyes and hair were brownish red, and he seemed to be waiting for an answer._

"_I asked are you homeless." he said, he seemed to be losing his patience with this girl, and Yumi didn't want to be kicked again._

_It was then that she realized she didn't know how to answer, she didn't have a home or any money to buy one, but what would he do if she told him that?_

"_Yeah, I guess I am." she said deciding it was better then lying to him._

"_Oh, well what are you going to do then?" he asked her._

"_I don't know." she admitted, it had been a while since she had needed to think about supporting herself._

"_Well, you have any skills?" he asked her._

"_What kind of skills?" she asked, "wait who are you?" she sat up and brushed herself off._

"_I'm Sam, and I mean life skills, stuff you need to know how to do in order to survive." he said._

"_Oh, those skills, I have some I guess, and I'm Yumi." she said as she got to her feet and stood at eye level with Sam._

"_Like what?" Sam asked._

"_Uh... I can cook," when it was for L._

"_And, um... I'm good with security stuff," she had helped Wedy with a few jobs._

"_Oh... and I can hack into some of the best computer systems," she remembered._

"_Oh? Well that's interesting, you're a hacker?" he asked._

"_Yep, and I'm good at puzzles and things, and code breaking..." in truth, Yumi had been solving cases for so long, she really didn't know what basic life skills were, she knew cooking was one but..._

"_You break codes?" he asked, now he seemed interested in what she could do._

"_Yeah, all the time, banks have code locks, and a lot of police computers do too, and security cameras are code locked sometimes..." she didn't know what Sam was so interested in but it felt nice to talk to someone._

"_You hack banks?" he asked, now he seemed completely enthralled in her skills._

"_Sometimes." she said, and it was true, she was always in charge of putting money into the bank accounts of agents that help on cases._

"_Hey, you staying anywhere tonight?" he asked her._

"_No... probably not." Yumi answered._

"_Well why don't you stay with me a few days? I can get you a job and help you earn some money." he offered, it sounded good but Yumi wasn't stupid._

"_Why?" she asked._

"_Well, because I feel generous... and because I need some help with my job, I think you could help." Sam answered._

"_What job?" Yumi asked, she had already decided to help if he would take her in for a few days, but she wanted to know how many laws she would be breaking in this activity._

"_Listen can you just follow me, I can't talk here and I'll be late if I don't move fast." he said._

_That cleared it up, he wasn't doing anything legal, but she still decided to go with him._

"_Ok, but you do have to explain soon." she said to him and then they began to walk towards the main section of Los Angeles._

Yumi turned a corner and stopped for a second to adjust the strap of her purse, there was a Japanese gun ban, so she couldn't keep one in plane sight.

Having a gun in her purse made her nervous, and she was constantly adjusting the strap to check if it was still there. She hadn't used it before and probably wouldn't have to, but she still kept it with her just in case.

She wore a pair of loose blue jeans and a white t-shirt, her hair was waist length and her silver heart necklace was heavy on her chest, she wore a silver bracelet on her right wrist, though she wasn't sure where it came from.

Her feet were bare and she moved with the speed and silence of a criminaleven though she had only committed an actual crime once.

Two years ago in America, she had help organize a mafia raid, then took her share of the money and bought a ticket to Japan.

She had lived there ever since, in a small apartment.

The gun was a precaution, she would never really shoot anyone, and she hadn't ever been in a situation where she would need to.

She hopped a fence and left the ally.

Her bag was brown and sturdy, the strap was on her left shoulder and the bag itself was bouncing against her right hip as she ran to catch a train across town.

It was the exact moment that she stepped on the train that she felt it.

When a death note is being used the aura can be felt within a five mile radius of the notebook and the target until the target dies.

With the shinigami eyes, she would have to look at the person from a distance of no more then thirty feet, and it couldn't be sensed even then.

But when a death note enters the human world for the first time and becomes a part of the human world, the aura could be felt from Japan to America.

The red aura pulsed vibrantly, and the shock caused Yumi to scream quite loudly from the train's platform.

Then the aura faded slightly but it wouldn't go out completely until the note was picked up by a human or the shinigami recovers it.

Yumi turned around in a rush and sprinted back the way she had come, people stared at her as she passed and shouted at her to watch her step but she couldn't stop, she had to reach the death note.

Half an hour later she entered the campus of a highschool, she hadn't bothered to read the name, she was in too much of a hurry to notice it.

But in spite of her haste, the death note had already been taken by the time she got to where it had fallen.

"Oh, great." she grumbled to herself, in cases like this she had to track down the owner, then make them give up ownership of the notebook to her, and destroy it.

Most of the time, people who find death notes give them up as soon as she asks them to, because they either take it as a prank or are afraid of their power.

The problem, though, was finding the owner.

Because the notebook had fallen at a highschool, Yumi could assume the owner was a student, but that didn't narrow her search down by much.

She walked back towards the train station, her things were in the apartment on the other side of town, which meant that she would have to move again.

Dang. If she had only been faster.

On her way back from her, now old, apartment, Yumi passed a large crowed of people, confused by the gathering, she pressed in to watch as a news crew broadcast from what they were calling the "scene of a hostage situation" Yumi asked around in the crowd and found out that, there was a man in the building who had taken several children and daycare workers hostage.

Yumi felt bad about the situation, but there was nothing she could really do, the special forces were there and all she had was a hand gun, even if she wanted to help, she couldn't do much.

She sighed and wished the best to the hostages before reluctantly moving away from the scene.

She hadn't made it far, when the red aura pulsed to life a few miles away, then a second aura appeared inside the building.

The death note, was the owner killing the attacker? His name had been announced but... would someone really do that?

It had been a little over forty seconds when she got her answer. The hostages all came running out of the front door, they all seemed fine.

Yes, Yumi decided, someone would do that.

"...the special forces are taking action, they're moving in!" shouted a news anchor into his microphone.

Yumi began to move towards the first aura, the aura of the notebook itself.

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**author's note:** I'm not being lazy! I decided to write as much as I can this weekend instead of laying in bed or reading manga, I'm going to write more! Thanks for reading!


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 29**

**Indebted**

It was late at night by the time Yumi had finished her hopeless search through the entire Kanto region of Japan, and she was late for work.

Yumi had a job, of corse she did, she had to pay for food somehow, and her apartment which she no longer owned, had cost something too.

Hunting down death notes didn't pay the bills, and if she didn't then she would have been out on the streets long ago.

She worked for minimum wage at a gas station convenience store.

It was an easy job to maintain, and every few days she would get a day off which she used to find another job to help with bills.

Yumi didn't own a car, so she was walking to work in the middle of the night with her hand in her bag and her silver bracelet jingling against the metal buckle that held the strap to the purse, when she was startled by a noise behind her, she knew what it was, but it still surprised her.

It was the roar of a motorcycle, well several motorcycles, coming from behind her.

She had reached the front entrance of the store by the time the motorcyclists had caught up to her.

"Hey, girlie." said the leader of the group as he cut the engine right next to her.

"How bout having some fun with me tonight?" he asked, Yumi wasn't impressed with his approach, all she really noticed was how much she wanted a motorcycle.

"My name's Takuro Shibuimaru, that's Shibutaku for short. Heh heh... come on girlie, how about it?" he asked, his teeth were huge, Yumi couldn't help but notice.

"I... don't think so..." she said, this guy was asking for it. Yumi knew his type and got ready to fight him off, she did have a gun on her if she needed it, and she'd been practicing her Capoeira over the past two years.

"She doesn't think so, dude!" one of the other men said.

"Aw, come on!" Shibuimaru said.

He grabbed her without waiting for an answer, and held her hands while another gang member tried to undo her pants.

She was about to kick his nose through his brain when she felt it, the red aura of a death note, then another pulsed to life around Shibuimaru.

The grip on her wrists slackened just enough to slip out, she took a wild guess at how he would die and ran across the street.

"Hey, girlie! I got wheels, remember?" he called as Shibuimaru kick started his bike and chased her across the street.

Yumi ran blindly, she could tell what was coming and wanted to clear the street before it happened, she had just reached the other side when there was a loud crash from behind her.

She turned back to see the wreckage of the bike on the street as a large truck drove away.

The red aura was gone.

Dang, Yumi thought as she turned back to the store.

The aura was gone and a crowed had formed so there wasn't much of a chance of her finding the owner, but now she at least knew they were close enough to commute past the store.

She told the owner that she wanted a day off, and because the owner felt sorry for her over the attack he let her have one.

Now I owe them, Yumi thought as she walked down the dark streets, I owe the owner for saving my life.

Dang, how am I going to fix this one?

_She followed Sam down a few streets and into an abandoned building, from the front it looked like it should be condemned but the people who were going to knock it down stopped halfway through for a lunch break and lost interest in the job._

_Of course this made Yumi nervous about going in, but Sam said it would be fine and Yumi decided it was worth a place to stay for a few days._

_Inside looked much better then on the outside, it seemed warm and comfortable and there were several people inside._

_Of course these people would have made Yumi feel better if they didn't all have guns._ _Yumi hesitated in the doorway, unsure of wether or not she should enter. Sam walked right in and motioned for her to follow._

_Yumi didn't trust him, and she wasn't sure if these people would hurt her or not, but she followed his lead._

"_Who's this, Sam?" one of the larger men asked, he was intimidating, with a nice suit and a stubble beard that lined his cheeks and chin but didn't really cover any of his face, he was bald and quite a bit taller then Yumi._

"_Street hacker." Sam answered, he seemed calm but Yumi could tell these men made him nervous. "I think she could help." he finished._

_Yumi blinked, she wasn't sure she approved of the term "street hacker" but she didn't mention it._

"_You can help us?" the man asked skeptically._

"_Um... of course I can..." Yumi knew it was bad to promise her help when she wasn't even sure what they needed help with, but she sensed it would be even worse to not answer at all._

"_What's your name?" he asked._

"_Yumi..." she wasn't sure if giving her name was a good idea, but it wasn't a real name anyway, so it couldn't hurt._

"_I'm Rod Ross." he said._

_Yumi had heard that name before, but where? It sounded so familiar but she just couldn't recall why._

_She hesitated while she thought about it, but then realized it was rude not to answer._

"_Nice to–" Rod Ross! The name clicked in at last, and Yumi gulped audibly, this was bad, Rod Ross was a big mafia boss, he was well known but so powerful in the crime world that the police still couldn't take him down._

_Who was Sam? If he knew Ross, then that made him either a mafia member or someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time._

_It was most likely the former._

_What had Yumi gotten herself into?!_

_She took a deep breath and said calmly to the waiting group, "Nice to meet you." she held out her hand and Ross shook it, this was bad._

"_So, your gonna help us then?" it seemed like he was asking, but she had no choice._

"_I'll do what I can." Yumi said, she just hoped it would be enough to be useful for more then target practice._

"_Good, then welcome aboard." Ross said, it sounded ominous to Yumi, but it could have been the situation._

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**author's note:**sorry this one's short, I think it was a good idea to bring up the same mafia that Mello winds up in. And that guy, Sam, is the guy who gets blown up in the helicopter later, Sam is an alias that he changes for one reason or another during the gap. I just felt like using him for this. Thanks for reading and reviewing!


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 30**

**Kira**

_Yumi wasn't enjoying her time with the mafia, but as long as she continued telling herself that, she would admit that she wasn't completely horrified with the fact she had agreed to help._

_Her first job was easy to the point of insulting, she had to use a computer system in a café to hack into the camera memory of a nearby bank._

_It took her under a minute to finish then she packed up the cd with the files and returned to the hideout_, _several of the mafia members complimented her, but that only made her wonder how many hackers they had met before._

_After that, she needed to find a member of a rival mafia using the footage she had gotten, she spent several hours watching a set of six different monitors each playing a separate scene from the bank lobby._

_It took her three hours of footage and six cupcakes but she found the man with a large bag which he deposited in a safety deposit box for later access._

_She froze the time and hacked the computer records to find which box he had put it in then told the rest of the gang what she had found._

_If mafia work was that easy, then why hadn't she tried it before?_

_An answer never came to her._

_That was when things started getting more interesting, that night Yumi and three other members of the gang, including Sam, broke into the bank._

_Yumi bypassed the code lock on the vault and the four of them searched through it's contents for the black duffle bag that held an unknown object, supposedly, of great value to the mafia._

_After a minute or two one of the group members, Jack, pulled the bag out of a pile of similar bags, he alerted the other members to his find and the group hurried out of the bank, Yumi re-locked the vault and reactivated the security cameras on the way out._

_Once they reached the hideout the bag was opened._

Yumi grimacedas she read the morning paper she had taken it from the rack in the store and intended to return it once she finished reading the only interesting story she could find between it's pages.

**Kira: God? Or Police Scam?**__The headingread. Yumi rolled her eyes, it had been one week since the motorcycle incident and since that night, the death note had been active almost 24/7.

Around three days after the killings started people began to take notice, it would have frightened people if not for the fact that all the victims were major criminals all over the world.

Now, a week later, people had begun to think of the owner as "Kira"Yumi could tell it was derived from the English word "killer" and in her opinion that was a perfect name for the murderer.

Yumi refolded the news paper and placed it on the rack in front of her, she silently scolded herself on not finding the owner before now, because now that so many people were being killed by "Kira" that the death note's aura was just one of several auras that were constantly active.

There really wasn't a difference between the auras of victims and that of the death note being used, so all that Yumi could learn so far from the killings was that Kira was somewhere in the Kanto region of Japan.

It was December fifth around noon when Yumi got off work and began another search through town for any of the auras that was constantly active, obviously while the other auras died out the death notes aura would be active through all of the killings, but there were so many auras to sift through that Yumi had taken to walking around the streets of Japan in an attemptto notice any of the auras that didn't fade away.

But this was still easier said then done.

Yumi sighed, there was one thing on her mind that she couldn't stop worrying about, there had been hundreds of victims so far, maybe more.

That statement alone made it sound like concern for the victims was her main problem but in reality the difference between one hundred and ten was the problem.

One hundred victims so far, and the numbers were still climbing, that number far surpassed L's ten victim minimum.

Yumi hadn't spoken to or even thought of L in two years now, but she hadn't expected him to have changed his standards by much.

So what really worried her, was that L was bound to get involved in this case if Yumi didn't find and stop the owner quickly.

She was in a large crowded square by the time she had stopped to take a break, there were people all around and it was quite loud, a large screen was mounted on a building so that passers by could watch the news as they commuted between different places, or ate in nearby cafes.

Yumi sat down on a bench sighing, if she didn't fix this quickly L would show up, and if that happened then he could be...

Yumi shook her head to clear her thoughts, she would fix this, he wouldn't need to get involved.

At that moment all the news screens in that area seemed to switch to another channel at the same time, a man stood holding several sheets of paper, there were quite a few people running around behind him as he struggled to stay focused on his massage.

"We're sorry to interrupt the regularly scheduled program to bring you a live world wide broadcast from Interpol's ICPO." the man said glancing at his notes to make sure he hadn't left anything out.

"Do we have a feed?" the people in the background shouted to each other, "Oh, we have a feed!"

"We now bring you live to the ICPO." a calm official voice stated as the screen changed again to a picture of a man in a grey suit sitting at a desk, he had black hair that was nicely combed and fell to his neck.

The name plate on his desk read Lind L. Tailor.

Yumi heard someone clear their throat behind the camera, and the man, Tailor, began to speak.

"I head up a special police task force which includes all member nations, my name is Lind L. Tailor–" please don't, Yumi thought to herself, she almost prayed that this wasn't what she thought it was, "other wise known as "L"." Tailor finished.

Crap. Yumi thought, she didn't normally use words like that, but a more appropriate term would be hard to come by in this situation.

L had already taken on the case.

She turned her attention back to the screen.

"Criminals all over the world are being murdered by a serial killer, I believe this to be the most atrocious act of mass murder in history. Kira, I will hunt you down, I will find you." Tailor continued, she could tell already that he wasn't L, no one could change that much in just two years, but there was little doubt that this was L's idea.

"Kira, I have a pretty good idea of what your motivation is and I can guess what you hope to achieve, but what your doing right now– is evil!" he said, Yumi sighed, she knew what was about to happen even before the red aura appeared.

All she could do was watch as the forty seconds passed. She had known that he would most likely say something like that, L would have told him to.

L had always been a fairly decent judge of character, and a person who only used the death note to kill criminals would obviously hate being compared to his victims.

For once Yumi wished that L had been stupid, that he hadn't made that connection, Kira could have controlled himself if he hadn't been called evil, then Yumi wouldn't have to worry about L finding him first.

Oh well, Yumi thought as Tailor cried out in pain and collapsed onto the desk.

Here it comes, she thought.

And she was right, the screens went white and a moment later a large black L filled the blank space in the center of each.

"I had to test this just in case, but I never thought it would actually happen. Kira, it seems you can kill people without having to be there in person." the synthetic voice said.

Yumi almost choked, it had been two years since she had heard that voice and in that time she had begun to forget how deeply connected it was to her memories of L. In those eleven seconds that the voice filled the sudden silence of the square, all the memories that she had pushed away had forced their way back into her mind.

She grabbed at her chest, at first she wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like, then the synthetic voice continued.

"Listen to me, Kira, if you did in fact kill Lind L. Tailor, the man you just saw die on television, I should tell you he was an inmate who's execution was scheduled for today. That wasn't me." as much as Yumi hated his intelligence for getting him into this, Yumi couldn't help but commend L on how much he had learned in one move.

"But L is real, I do exist. Now, try to kill me!" he continued, Yumi smiled to herself, that was a bold move, but she knew he was safe as long as Kira couldn't see him.

"What are you waiting for?" he taunted, he knew he was safe too, though he couldn't be sure until this was over.

"Come on! Go ahead and kill me!" no new auras appeared, Yumi was fairly sure that L was safe, but she silently hoped he wouldn't push Kira too far.

"What is this?" someone from the crowd asked.

"It's Kira vs L!"

"You mean Kira really exists?"

"Who's "L"? I've heard of Kira, but..."

"It's murder, live on tv!"

"Creepy..."

"Do it Kira!" people began to speak up.

"I'm still here, can't do it, Kira?" L continued to taunt, Yumi wished he would quit while he was ahead. He had no idea what he was up against.

"Evidently you aren't able to kill me." the synthetic voice said calmly.

Yumi let out the breath she had been holding, as L began to explain how had found Kira's location, Yumi was glad he was done inviting Kira to kill him.

There wasn't a real reason for Yumi to be this worried but something about being part of the crowd, and not behind the scenes with L was making her nervous. But, she suddenly wondered to herself as the broadcast continued, was that the only reason she was nervous? Or was L putting himself in danger what was really bothering her?

Nope, just the lack of participation. She decided, nothing more.

The broadcast ended and Yumi slipped out of the crowd as talk about the broadcast began to surface. She had to find Kira before L did. She had to keep the two apart, no matter what.

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**author's note: **I had a lot of trouble remembering the exact words said in the anime, I do own and read the manga but for the broadcast thing I think the anime worded it better, of course Ohba-sensei's writing is better over all, the anime cut so much out in the Near and Mello arc! It makes me angry, anyway, I tried to write this one well so thanks for reading and reviewing!


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 31**

**Raid**

It had been five days of non-stop killings, five days of sleepless nights spent searching for the owner only to collapse empty handed as the sun rose.

Yumi could hardly take it anymore, she needed to find the owner and destroy the death note before the world's supply of criminals ran thin.

She sat at the table in a café and waited for a cup of coffee to arrive, after a few minutes a man set the coffee down on the table and retreated to the back of the room. Yumi added as much sugar as she could find on her table, as well as the surrounding empty tables.

It was about five in the morning.

She sipped her coffee thoughtfully, and tapped her fingernails on the metal table as she wondered how L was getting along with his investigation.

Yumi dreaded the fact that she hadn't found the owner of the death note before L had taken on the case, but now that he had taken it on, all Yumi could do was hope she would find the owner first.

L was smart, but this was something that took more then just intelligence to solve, this was a case that L should have left to Yumi.

Of course the two hadn't seen each other in two years now, which meant that L couldn't have known where Yumi was or what she was doing.

Which brought up still another problem.

It was unlikely but what if L showed himself in public or went for a walk around town? Not only would that be dangerous for him, but it would also make it possible for Yumi to run into him again.

Yumi scowled at the memory of how she had reacted to the synthetic voice. If that was her reaction to just a fake voice then what would happen if they met in person? This question made Yumi nervous and she began to run her fingers over the silver bracelet around her right wrist.

Then a thought occurred to her, what if L had forgotten her? That was probably what had happened, Yumi sighed.

He didn't even remember her existence! He must have forgotten her as soon as she was out the door back in LA! And so now, two years later, he wasn't going to remember her.

"That jerk!" she shouted out loud as she stood up in her seat.

She dropped her coffee as she rose and cried out as the hot liquid poured over the front of her jeans.

That was his fault too, she decided as she left money on the table and walked out of the shop.

It didn't really occur to her that she had jumped to the conclusion of him forgetting her, and as she left the café in a storm of self induced rage, she barely noticed the shouts of the waiter over the ruined table cloth.

"_This is what we broke into a bank, hacked the security cameras, and reviewed hours of video footage for?" Yumi asked in disappointment as the contents of the bag were revealed_.

_Inside were several small computer chips and a pack of black floppy disks. Yumi was disappointed._

"_Hell yeah it's what we were after! Do you know what this stuff is?" one of the mafia members answered._

"_No, not really." Yumi admitted._

"_This stuff is all the info the cops had on a rival mafia gang, they got caught during a job and some of their men died or got caught by the police. A few days later the rest of the gang stole it and put it in that bank vault so they could hide the evidence." he explained, "these disks have all the info we need on one of our biggest rivals, now, we have all the information we need to take them out."_

"_Oh, that makes sense." Yumi muttered, and it did, but what did that mean she would be doing?_

_The next day she got her answer. After the gang looked through all the disks they planned out a strike on the rival gang._

_Yumi was so caught up in the preparations that she failed to notice the number of weapons being prepared._

_So when the sun set she began to wonder what she was doing hiding out in front of the rival mafia's hideout._

_But the feeling of confusion turned to fear when she was handed the gun._

_Yumi had never held a gun before, and even though she had seen them in case files or watched Wedy practice with one, she was still terrified of the weapon._

_It was cold and heavier then she had expected, but when she turned to her group to ask why she had been given the gun, the pieces clicked into place._

_She was going in with the rest of the gang. And she was going in to fight and kill people._

_Yumi gasped as the realization hit her, she had no weapon skills and she had had some very bad experiences with murderers in the past._

_She wanted to leave, but even she knew that, that wasn't going to happen. So she tightened her grip on the gun and readied herself for the signal._

_It came sooner then she had hoped it would._

_A signal from Ross sent all the groups running into the hideout, guns ready._

_Several people were killed before the group even opened the front door, but the rest of the gang stormed on, through the door and into the hideout._

_There were several people inside, most were larger men but Yumi was aware of a few women as well, of course there were so many gun shots ringing through the air that Yumi could barely move from place to place without being killed in the crossfire._

_She decided it was time to go._

_Yumi bolted for the door she had entered through but before she could reach it, she was tackled from behind, just in time to avoid a bullet that bounced off the wall in front of her._

_In any other situation she would have thanked whoever had tackled her for saving her life, but fear drove her to flip over under the body weight of her savior and attempt to knee them in the stomach. Hard._

_Sam coughed as he was struck by her knee and Yumi instantly apologized to him for the bruise that had formed on his lower ribs._

"_Are you insane?! You never turn your back on a fight!" Sam shouted over the noise of the raid._

"_And now I know why! Thanks!" Yumi called back._

"_Now get off me so I can leave!" she continued._

"_What?! Leave?!" Sam asked._

"_Yeah! I just about died!" she called._

"_But it's almost over! Were winning!" Sam shouted._

"_Get off!" Yumi rolled him off of her and crawled to her feet, keeping low to avoid stray bullets._

_That was when she saw it, a silhouette in the rafters of the building._

_She tried to focus, but didn't recognize the form. The man aimed his gun at one of the struggling raiders._

"_Rod!" Yumi tried to shout but her voice was lost in the noise of the bullets. She wouldn't get his attention in time that way. There was only one other way._

_Yumi took a chance and aimed her gun at the figure. She wasn't the best shot with a weapon and she had never used a gun before in her life, but it was literally now or never._

_Yumi pulled the trigger._

_She could have taken a nap in the time it seemed to take for the bullet to reach it's mark, but the shot was right on target._

_The figure cried out and dropped it's gun to into the crowed below. Yumi had hit the figure in the hand with just enough accuracy to stop the shot that would have been fired a second later._

_The gun falling from the ceiling alerted the group to the presence of the rafter marksman, and a second later he had been shot down._

_After that Rod Ross's gang won the fight and Yumi slipped away._

_Sam must have told Ross what had happened because a week later Yumi was tracked down by one of the gang members and paid for her help._

_She used the money to buy a plane ticket to Japan where she then moved permanently and began tracking down death notes that fell into the human world._

_After two years of hunting down shinigami notebooks Yumi began to forget L and her time at Wammy's House._

It was just her luck that around the time that the wound of leaving closed up, Kira appeared and L returned to her life.

Stupid Kira.

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**author's note:** thanks for reading! And thanks for the reviews! I had to speed write because I'm going somewhere tonight. Ok thanks again! See you tomorrow!


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 32**

**Hacked**

After her coffee incident that morning, Yumi was forced to buy a new pair of jeans.

On her way out of the store she noticed a change in the auras of the death note. Before the auras had been pulsing non stop since the first day, but they were all around the same times every day.

But suddenly they all lit up at once and stayed constant all day with only one disappearing each hour. Who ever had the notebook had changed tack, now they were setting things up to kill one criminal an hour all day.

But why the change? Yumi wondered, and then it came to her, she had already known Kira was a student because the notebook had fallen at a high school. But the times of death would point that out to anyone who paid attention.

So Kira must have realized the trend and changed the pattern. But that alone wasn't very smart if the police hadn't noticed the times yet, because the change drew attention to the times and L would surely be able to guess why the switch had happened.

But the fact that Kira noticed the trend before the police worried Yumi, it meant that he or she was smarter then she had thought.

But why every hour? It would have been smarter to switch to the schedule of someone with a job, or switch constantly between different schedules, every hour would only point out that Kira was flexible as far as time, as well as draw attention to the previous times.

It didn't make sense. Was Kira just not thinking? Or were they really that stupid?

Either way it was bad for Yumi because it could give L something to go on. Yumi wasn't trying to beat L, she was only trying to make sure he didn't get near the death note, so when he made breakthroughs in the case Yumi had to fight that much harder to stay ahead.

She walked past the police station on her way to work that afternoon, it was shorter to go the other way around but she felt compelled to be near the station.

It was then that an idea– no an urge– hit her, Yumi deviated from her path and entered the station.

The reception room was quiet for that time of day and the silence made Yumi a bit nervous, she felt awkward standing so close to where L was operating without being a part of the official case.

One of the receptionists glanced up at her as she hesitated, she wasn't sure what to do at this point, she hadn't thought this far ahead.

She walked over to the receptionist and hesitated again.

She wanted to see L, it was a strong desire but... would he want to see her? It had been two years since they had spoken and he probably didn't remember her and if he did he was mad at her for leaving without saying goodbye, or telling him where to find a new hacker.

Wait hacker? Hacker, hacked?

What was that? Something had hit her just then but what was it?

Ok rethink that sentence.

...or telling him where to find a new hacker...

No good, it was gone, whatever it was. Yumi sighed it felt like it had been important.

The receptionist lost patience with her.

"Can I help you ma'am?" he asked.

"What? Oh, me um... do you think I could visit the task force for the serial murder case?" she asked snapping back from her daydreams.

"Do you have an appointment?" the man asked.

"Uh... well... no, no not really." she admitted.

"Well if you'd like to make an appointment you can get in as early as tomorrow." he said, looking a bit bored.

"No, it's fine, I was just wondering." she sighed. She didn't need to see L that bad, or at least that was what she tried to convince herself.

She turned back around and walked away, as she got to work and stood behind the counter ringing up the price of a magazine for a brown haired boy, she failed to notice how he ignored the pictures of women on the front and went strait for the article about L and Kira.

The boy left the store and Yumi went on thinking about how much she missed L.

It was strange that she suddenly wanted to see him though, for two years she had tried to forget his existence, only allowing herself to stop denying him when she was laying in bed at night wide awake. That was the only time she ever though about him, until the Kira case started and his name was everywhere.

Kira this L that.

All she could think about was how dangerous this case was for him, and she still wasn't sure where the sudden feelings were coming from. Maybe they weren't new, though, just suppressed, like and old toy that sat in the back of the closet collecting dust until you opened it up and brushed it off.

Yumi sighed again.

She was never more then a hacker to him, he thought of her as a friend at first, she knew he had, but as they grew up he spoke less about things like that and asked more and more of her to solve the cases.

It was always the cases that took priority, always trying to catch the criminals never thinking about how much it hurt to be considered a tool.

Just a hacker.

There it was again! That feeling, it was something important, she could tell but what had it been?

Hacker, there was something there in that word, no in the meaning of the word, hacking, to break into or steal computer information.

To read computer information...

Was that it? But what about it? What had been hacked?

The killings... was that what it was, had Kira changed the times of death to throw off the investigation, it would mean that L had already noticed the trend in the killings.

He was smart but was that possible?

Yes, she decided, yes it was.

And that was it, that was why the times were being set, but was Kira doing it deliberately? Was he showing L that he could hack the file on the case? What was he gaining by doing that?

Yumi didn't know, the fact that Kira was trying to hide that he was a student was shadowed by the fact that he could hack the police. But what if he couldn't hack the police?

What if he was connected to the police?!

Was Kira a member of the task force? No that couldn't be it, it would be too obvious that he was there, and Kira was a student not a policeman.

Hmm... was it on purpose? Or was Kira stupid enough to show L his connection to the police?

Yumi didn't know, she just didn't know...

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**author's note: **ok, sorry this one's really short, I ran out of things to write without jumping a few days mid chapter. Thanks for reading! And thanks for the review!


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 33**

**Infiltrated**

On December fourteenth Yumi sat down at a public laptop in a café, she laughed at the idea of following Kira's example in this but she couldn't think of any other way to get information.

She switched on the laptop and set to work hacking the task force information file, and there it was! On December eighth L began to suspect a student was Kira.

Then on the tenth the pace of the killings changed, which meant that Kira hacked the police files between the eighth and the tenth, then changed the times of death, but Kira hadn't thought it through because changing the times like he did would show L his connection to the police or if there was no connection, it would show L that he was a hacker.

Why would Kira make such a serious mistake and not fix it? Or was it deliberate?

If Kira had a connection to the police, then all the task force members would be suspects in the case.

Knowing L, once he found that link he would move on the assumption and the task force would be investigated in some way.

So what would Kira gain assuming that was his intention? A young women walked behind Yumi toward the exit of the café.

"Is that the Kira case file?" she asked as she caught sight of the computer screen.

Oh great, Yumi thought as she closed the program and left the store.

Having no money, meant having no privacy to investigate, she was always trying to hide what was happening in cafes and public libraries when she used their computers but people could always see.

It was only a matter of time before someone called her in as a Kira suspect because of the information she was gathering.

Yumi laughed at herself, if she had picked a computer that didn't face the door in that café then no one would have seen her.

Oh well, she decided, it already happened, no use in taking it back now.

Then something occurred to her, the auras of the killings.

They were all concentrated in prisons around Japan, all twenty three auras that marked the victims were in prisons in large groups, but the death note was on it's own, it was farther away from the other auras.

Why this hadn't occurred to her sooner Yumi had no idea but now she realized that all she had to do to find Kira was find one aura that stood out.

She stopped walking and closed her eyes as she focused.

The red auras were on all sides of her and she had trouble finding one that stood apart from the others but after a few minutes of focusing on the auras the clock struck eleven am, and two auras blazed then one went out.

The other one had to be the death note's aura!

Yumi ended her concentration and began to run, the aura of the death note wasn't as far away as she had thought it would be.

She followed the aura across a few streets and into a nicer part of town. It made sense that Kira was well treated even more so if he was connected to the police, so Yumi spent minimal time looking around and went strait for the house that held the aura.

It was one of the nicer houses on the street, a two story with a small front gate and a short wall, there was a section of grate that held vines against the front wall under one of the windows. The light in the window was off but Yumi ignored the exterior of the home and looked for the source of the aura.

It didn't take long, the aura was coming from the dark window on the second floor, it was too early for a mass murderer to be asleep so Yumi assumed he was out of the house, which meant he left the death note in the house when he went out.

Yumi saw little sense in this decision, after all she carried the remains of her death note with her everywhere, but then again her death note was only one page, and this one was a whole notebook which is more difficult to conceal.

Yumi considered sneaking into the house and stealing the death note, it would end the Kira killings right there and then, but Yumi could tell that Kira wasn't stupid enough to leave the death note out in the open, so it had to be hidden somewhere in that room.

That wouldn't be a problem but for the chance that Kira was good with tools, then there was a possibility that there was a kind of trap or security measure protecting the note.

It was too much to risk right now.

Yumi had to focus hard to read the plaque on the front of the house, because it was in Kanji and Yumi was only proficient in reading English, after a few seconds of trying to decipher the plaque she decided it read "Yagami," Yumi laughed at the irony, Kira having a surname like "night god" was an interesting coincidence.

Satisfied with her findings Yumi turned to leave, she knew that there was a Yagami in the police force, she had definitely heard the name before. So she could hack the task force records for information on him, though it was unlikely that the policeman Yagami was Kira it was still a start.

As Yumi began to walk back to the main part of town she noticed something, it was small but there was definitely another aura coming down the street, it was still a ways away but it was clearly there.

What could cause a second aura, it wasn't big enough to be a victim, so it had to be the notebook but it was still small and the note was in the house. So did that mean Kira was carrying a piece of the note?

It seemed like a good idea, but that meant Kira was walking down the street toward her right now!

Yumi decided that it was better to run now and not get caught spying then it was to see Kira's face.

She left the house and ran down the street, she could have met with Kira right then but she wanted to make sure he wasn't dangerous to talk to.

Of course anyone with a death note was dangerous, but if he was too weak or the finicky type that couldn't kill without the note then Yumi was safe, because she had no name, and there for couldn't be killed with a death note.

Then there was the chance that the death note was just easier to use but the owner had no qualms about shooting or stabbing a victim instead.

That was what Yumi had to check before she could approach Kira, then there was the fact that anyone in the house could potentially be Kira, that meant that Yumi would have to use process of elimination to find the Kira in the family.

Over all, looking up the Yagami family before she approached Kira was a good idea if not a necessity.

That meant she would have to go back to the café or the library to use a computer.

Yumi really needed to get a laptop.

She spent a maximum of ten minutes looking up the Yagami family in the police files, she could have googled them or something, but she enjoyed the feeling of superiority that hacking the police gave her.

She laughed at the thought that breaking the law made her feel superior, but continued to search through the files.

It was a family of four.

There was Yagami Soichiro, Yagami Sachiko, Yagami Raito, and Yagami Sayu.

Yagami Soichiro was on the task force, in fact he was head of the task force, Yagami Sachiko was a house wife and the mother, Yagami Raito was a high school senior and a near perfect student, and Yagami Sayu was in junior high with roughly average grades.

Out of the four Yagami Raito was the most likely to be Kira.

That had been too easy, but Yumi's ability was close to cheating, or at least it was an unfair advantage which made the search easier.

Yumi was tempted to fax or e-mail the information to L, she laughed at the idea, she only wanted to do that as a form of bragging, like saying "I found Kira first and that's what you get for forgetting me" but there was no real proof that Yagami Raito was Kira in fact if Yumi did find a way to contact L and tell him, it was likely he would just think she was insane.

That was depressing, the only way for L to solve the case would be for him to get the death note from Kira, and all Yumi needed to do was to destroy Kira's death note.

If L got the notebook then Yumi would have some explaining to do, but if Yumi got it first and destroyed it then the killings would stop and the case would run cold, L would officially be given credit for solving the case because the killings had stopped, so it would work out well for both of them if Yumi got the notebook first.

And she did have the advantage, she could sense where the death note and Kira were if he kept a piece with him.

So that would make it easy for Yumi to get the note first, but why wouldn't she just do it?

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**author's note:** thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! I'm tired now see you Monday I think, maybe sooner! Thanks again!


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 34**

**Tail**

Three reasons Yumi knew Raito had hacked the police:

1) No police officer, much less a higher ranking one, would be careless enough to reveal classified information to civilians. That was a form of bragging used by low ranking idiots who enjoy flaunting status.

2) Yumi had tailed Raito for three days strait after her initial discovery and saw him hacking through the window on the second night.

3) as if reasons one and two weren't enough, Yumi had waited for the house to empty on the third day, then picked the lock on the front door and searched his computer. The guy had a link to the police files on his desktop! That... is... suspicious.

Those three things alone would have been enough to prove he was Kira even without the death note. So Yumi wasn't surprised when she nearly collided with a man in a long coat while tailing Yagami on the fourth day.

She could tell he was tailing Yagami too because A: he wasn't even Japanese, and B: he jumped back suspiciously after Yumi cried out at the collision.

It was night and Yumi had been sitting outside Raito's school, he attended an extra night class as well as regular school every day.

Yumi had gotten bored sitting on the ground and began to move when a tall man walked around the corner, keeping close to the wall at all times, and stepped on her hand, she cried out in pain and he nearly fell on top of her in shock.

"I'm sorry!" she cried and ran off, she stopped around the next corner and looked back just in time to see the shinigami attached to Kira approach the window and look at the man on the corner.

The man didn't see the shinigami and continued to watch the class through the window. Yumi wasn't noticed at all and a few minutes later Riato came out of the class and– with the shinigami following behind him– walked back toward his house.

Yumi worried for the man, she had learned that shinigami don't always help out the human they're attached to, but there have been some exceptions. On her way following him home, Yumi learned type of shinigami this one was.

"... I'm not on your side or L's side on this..." Yumi was too far away to hear clearly, because she needed to make sure the other tail didn't see her again. After all she could guess who's orders he was following.

The shinigami obviously couldn't tell she could see could hear and see him because he made no attempt to lower his voice. But the death note owner, who Yumi couldn't see from her current angle because said shinigami was in the way, made an attempt at not being heard. And to Yumi's great annoyance he succeeded, she couldn't hear his response.

"Your being followed by another human, he's watching you right now." the shinigami pointed out. Yumi froze.

Only one human, which meant that one of them had been caught and it was probably the man who had also stopped moving as Raito stopped around a corner.

The man retreated a little behind the wall as Raito glanced over his shoulder, then he started walking again. Yumi remained where she was until Raito, the shinigami, and the man were all out of sight then took a train to the lower part of town to hack the police files again.

Yumi wasn't stupid, she knew that the hack could be traced if she wasn't careful and going to jail would slow down her investigation then there was the fact that she would be added to Kira's kill list for breaking the law.

She used computers on all sides of town never using the same computer of even the same region twice. She disabled the back hack first, it was a pathetic example of a back hack but still a problem, then she read what she needed to, printed nothing, wiped her finger prints off the keyboard and left.

They were all public computers so anyone could use them, and she wasn't a member of anything close to where she was using the computers she had no library card and officially she didn't exist at all.

She was safe as long as the police didn't show up mid way through the job.

At noon the next day she had broken the firewall for the umpteenth time and read the victim profiles, that was the most likely thing to change after the tail was discovered.

And it had changed, the victims had started to exhibit strange behavior before death.

One victim had drawn a pentagram on the wall of his cell before he died of a heart attack, that could be taken as a coincidence but it was L investigating. Coincidences didn't exist.

The second victim had written a note, it could have also been seen as a free willed act of the victim, but that was unlikely, because it meant nothing.

_Lord have mercy._

_Do what I can, I'll either be hanged or_

_you know it, killed by Kira. I_

_know about him. He's going to get me._

That was so obvious it was laughable, Kira had made this man write this note before he died, anyone could figure that out.

The second line made no sense, "do what I can," there was no point in writing that, also there was plenty of space on the paper to write each whole sentence on a line. "Lord have mercy." ok, that was normal enough.

No on hangs anymore, it could be metaphorical but that wasn't too likely.

So could the note be a message? it was possible but how would you read it?

The lines weren't all grammatically correct that could be a start. "Do what I can" wasn't right, it would have made sense if was "I do what I can" so why not write that? It was only one letter, was that a message?

So was that line suppose to start with "do" and then line four, I could have been moved down to put the whole sentence on that line, so could do and know have– wait that was it, lord was the first word of the first line, do was the first word of the second line, you was the first word of the third line, and know was the first word of the fourth line.

Lord do you know.

What did that have to do with anything? But wait what if it wasn't lord, what if, because it was the first letter of the first word of the first line, the message could be read as L do you know, not lord L!

That had to be it, which meant that Kira was asking L something, it wasn't like he would get an answer though so it was more likely that the note was a way of bragging.

Then there was the third victim, he had escaped from his cell and ran to the staff bathroom before dying of a heart attack. Kira was most likely controlling that too, because if he could escape on his own he would have gone for an exit not a bathroom.

But even after she had figured that out, Yumi still couldn't decide what Kira was doing.

The most logical theory would be that he was testing limits, but why would he start to test now and not from the very beginning?

The reason was most likely that man who had been caught following him last night, Yumi thought, Kira must not have the eyes, or he would have just killed him, but because he couldn't do that he had to find another way to kill him, and for that he needed to know the limits of the death note's power.

Yumi wondered if he had tried other tests that had failed or if he had just tried those three.

It was most likely the former, but she wasn't sure.

Yumi stood up and turned off the computer, she walked out of the library and made her way back to Yagami's house to continue tailing him.

As long as she had no name, there was no way to kill her with a death note. Even if the shinigami or even Raito himself noticed her they couldn't do much to her.

She watched him through the night but that was much more difficult then before because she also had to keep an eye on the tail from L.

Raito was on the computer for a while before he leaned back in his chair and began to talk on the phone with someone. There was no way for Yumi to hear the conversation from her hiding place across the street, then after getting a few hours of sleep he left the house.

Both Yumi and the other tail followed him until he reached a bus station at Asagao-oka, he met a young girl, there she was probably a class mate of his.

The young girl seemed very excited about something, Yumi decided that it would be better to just act like a passenger, she was sure that Yagami would board the bus when it arrived.

Yumi walked out from behind the wall she had been standing behind while she watched and over to the awning to wait for the bus.

Raito didn't react to her when she walked over and stood near enough to hear the conversation, that was proof that she hadn't been noticed before.

The conversation between Raito and his "date" wasn't very interesting, and Yumi could tell that this girl was just a reason for Yagami to be taking this bus.

When the bus arrived Yagami, his date, Yuri, Yumi, and the other tail all boarded.

Yumi sat in the very back to the right, and Yagami sat in the back to the left, with the other tail in the seat behind them.

Yagami glanced over his shoulder at the man probably to make sure he was there, Yumi didn't trust this situation at all.

Through almost the first hour of the ride all the conversation came from Yuri with Raito only saying a word or two here and there to keep her talking.

Yumi wondered if he was really ok with how much she talked but he didn't seem to mind, and Yumi wasn't even suppose to be there so she wasn't going to say anything.

Then the bus stopped, and Yumi froze, an aura was right outside the door, a red aura from the death note.

Yumi couldn't help but look over at Raito, he seemed fine with the fact that a death note victim was boarding the bus.

Yumi wondered what he was thinking, if the victim died on the bus then it would almost be like announcing that Yagami Raito was Kira, why would he do that?

The man boarded the bus and it started to move again, but the man didn't sit down.

He took out a gun and held it to the drivers head, then shouted to all the passengers, "This bus has just been hijacked, ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted.

There were several cries of panic and shock at the development. Yumi wished she could tell how much time he had left.

"Cut the squawking! Anybody make a sound or move of any kind, I'll blow their damn head off!" the hijacker announced, Yumi glanced at Raito again, he seemed calm which meant he knew the death note couldn't make someone kill other people. That meant he had planned this, but why?

"Hey driver, you know the Spaceland phone number don't you? Call it!" he ordered waiving the gun a bit.

The driver did as he was told. "This is Sasaki, driver of bus 124."

"Tell 'em what's happening." the hijacker said.

"Th– the bus has just been hijacked by a man with a gun!" he explained panic was clear on his face even to Yumi who could only see the back of his head.

The hijacker grabbed the phone from the driver, Yumi was worried that the driver would freak out and crash the bus.

"You hear that? Now listen to _**this**_." the hijacker said into the phone.

"Take all the money you made yesterday and bring it to Yuhihama bus stop, that's two stops before Spaceland, before this bus gets there. I want a woman delivering the money by car and no one else!!" he ordered.

"Try to be smart with me, or call the cops, I'll kill every passenger on this bus. You got that?" he asked but didn't get an answer, instead he hung up and crushed the phone on the floor.

Yumi wanted to roll her eyes at the idiot, but felt that in this situation that would be the wrong thing to do.

She looked over a Yagami again, he was calm and busy writing something, but it wasn't in the death note, his date was terrified.

He tapped her on the leg to get her attention and showed her the note, Yumi couldn't read it from across the isle but the other tail was in the perfect position to read it over his shoulder.

Yumi could tell that was intentional, and a moment the man leaned forward in his seat and put his hand on Yagami's shoulder.

He whispered something that Yumi couldn't hear over the engine and Yagami smirked discreetly. He started writing again, not regular paper but the death note.

Yumi couldn't believe it, could he have learned the man's name already? He didn't have the eyes, Yumi was more then close enough to tell so then who would he be killing? His date was even there, he wouldn't kill her would he?

Would he? He was Kira, but no aura lit up on the bus even after he had finished writing and stuffed the paper in his pocket.

Would he kill a criminal on the bus in front of the tail, Yumi knew that Raito knew the man was a tail from L, so why would he...?

The three figures whispered to each other, Yuri was still terrified and seemed to get more frightened as the conversation went on, Yumi couldn't hear a word of it.

Then the man took out something, he handed it over the seat to Raito who looked it over, whatever it was shocked Yagami because he took a few seconds to return it to the man, Yumi wondered if whatever it was, was written in English and Raito couldn't read it. The man did seem to be American or maybe British.

Yagami asked the man something, Yumi couldn't hear then the man nodded a bit.

Yumi wondered what that thing had been, in a situation like this no one would trust a stranger so Yagami would have had a reason to ask for identification, was that it? Had the man shown Raito his ID?

If that was it then he had just gotten himself killed, but if just this guy died, then L would have no problem narrowing down the suspects. There had to be more to this.

Then Yagami pulled his right hand out of his pocket and the piece of the death note fell to the floor.

Raito bent down to get it but froze as the hijacker noticed, was Yagami going to get himself killed over this? No he couldn't be killed by the hijacker.

But if the hijacker touched the paper then...

"Hey you! Hold it!! what's that paper?!" the hijacker called as he approached Yagami.

"Ya little smartass, passin' notes and trying to plan something, are ya?" the hijacker asked as he bent over to grab the paper.

"What's this, where you were meeting your date?" the hijacker asked as he read the note.

What? Why would Yagami use the death note to write something like that? Or maybe it was an accident, he could have had that in his pocket before the phone call to Yuri and grabbed it by accident when he was writing down where to go.

But the time a few minutes ago when he wrote something on the piece of the note and nothing happened, why would he have to write down the place for a date he was already on?

"Drop something again, I'll shot ya!" the hijacker said tossing the paper at Yagami on his way back up the isle.

That was when Yumi made the connection. The shinigami had been standing in the back of the bus the whole time, Yumi had ignored it because she wasn't supposed to be able to see it but now that the hijacker had touched the paper, if he turned around...

Yumi had come to this conclusion to late.

"And that goes for all of y'all." he said as he turned back toward the passengers, "anybody make a move, I'm gonna..." he noticed.

"**Wh... what the hell?!**" he shouted in fear, "**you in the back there, you...**" this was bad.

The man behind Yagami reached inside his jacket thinking that the hijacker meant him. Yumi grabbed the gun inside her bag.

"**Monster, you... how long you been there?!**" he shouted at the shinigami standing in the back of the bus.

"Hmm? You talking to _me_?" the shinigami asked, "you can see me...?"

"**Don't... move, just stay... right there or I'll shoot...**!" the hijacker tried to threaten.

Yagami didn't seem bothered by this, in fact he was smiling! This had been his plan!

"He's on PCP or something he's hallucinating... everybody get down!" Yagami's tail shouted all the passengers panicked, ducking down and covering their heads.

Yumi took cover as well. She knew what was about to happen, the aura was going crazy but if it was heart attack it would be like asking to get caught, did Yagami not care about being caught because he could kill the tail now? No there were too many other ways to get caught from this.

"Oh, I get it." the shinigami said to the hijacker, or maybe just to anyone who was listening, "that note Raito dropped, he must've torn it out of the death note."

"This guy touched it, so he can see me. But nobody else can..." Yumi was careful not to look at it, she didn't need it telling Raito about her later, instead she tried to watch the hijacker like a helpless victim, she let go of her gun. "Smart kid, Raito!" it finished piecing things together.

"**Back... stay back... urgh... worrrgh!**" the hijacker fired his gun at the shinigami who just stood there letting the bullets pass through it.

"Sorry, dude. I'm a shinigami, so that isn't going to kill me." it said calmly. Yumi had never heard a shinigami say "dude" before, she almost laughed but realized that she couldn't see the shinigami.

"I'm always hovering behind you, anyone who touches the death note can see me, and you can't shoot them through the head or anything, a shinigami won't die." it explained, that didn't help the hijacker's panic, "all stuff I told Raito."

"Pretty impressive how he put it all together." it said, the hijacker kept shooting, "guess he isn't Japan's top exam scorer for nothing. Plus, he got his shadow to show him his ID..." so it was an ID!

The holes in the shinigami closed up instantly, that was too much for the hijacker to take.

"He's out of bullets!" the tail called and began running toward the hijacker.

"Stop the bus! Open the damn door!!" the hijacker pleaded to the driver.

The bus slowed to a stop and the hijacker leapt out onto the street, the aura blazed the there was a screeching sound outside, Yumi ran across the isle to look out the window just as the hijacker was struck by a speeding car.

The aura went out.

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**author's note:** man that makes up for the times I said chapters were too short, Ohba- sensei sure has a way with words, it took me a while to copy that all down, but I did it! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! And for those of you that are waiting for the fluff, it's coming don't worry, I just have a problem with things happening too fast. Sorry if your bored with the build up but it is coming. Thanks again!


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 35**

**Contact**

Yumi waited one day after the bus jacking, Kiichiro Osoreda, he had been the hijacker.

At first Yumi had thought that Yagami had used a random person, even though he had been on the news not long before for trying to rob a bank. After all it wasn't like Kira to kill someone innocent so it made sense that he used a criminal, but because he had wanted to go unnoticed he had also killed a lot of ex-convicts and investigation suspects.

In other words all the people he had used for cover on that day had been legally innocent, the reason for this must have been fear of trying to use someone who was currently incarcerated, he had to be careful that no one he used was in jail.

She followed Raito around for one day after the bus jacking to make sure the tail was gone and after twenty four hours of following him constantly, Yumi finally decided that the heat was off him, the bus jacking had worked well for him in everything.

He now knew the name and face of the tail, and also because the hijacker hadn't died from a heart attack, it could be assumed that Yagami wasn't Kira who would have killed in self defense.

It had been a good plan, but he hadn't been careful about hiding his shinigami. Not like that was a problem in any situation other then that one, after all everyone else would have had to touch the death note to see it.

Because of that fact Raito had been careless and now Yumi was 100 percent certain he was Kira.

So the next night Yumi climbed up the vine grate on the front of his house and into the window of his bedroom. He wasn't home at the time so Yumi just sat on his bed, sifted through his books, searched his desk, and anything else she could find until he got home.

As she heard him coming up the stairs Yumi began to wonder if her presence would shock him, mostly she hoped he would be smart enough not to scream, because if he did she would have to make a quick escape, and she didn't really feel like jumping out the window.

She lay back on the bed and turned her head to look at the door as it opened. The shinigami was talking to Raito as he entered and he seemed to be ignoring it until the door was completely open and he noticed Yumi on the bed.

"Please don't scream." Yumi said calmly, there wasn't much of a chance that saying that would stop him from screaming if he really wanted to, but it was worth a shot.

Raito didn't know how to respond to this situation, after all it wasn't every day that a random woman climbs through your window and lays on your bed while your at school.

"Close the door, or your family will come up to investigate." she said as if speaking to a small child.

Raito saw sense in her suggestion and obeyed, closing the door and crossing the room to the desk where he sat in the rolling chair. Yumi didn't move from her position on the bed, but the desk was behind her so she turned her head at an odd angle to keep Raito in her line of sight.

He seemed to have gotten over the initial shock of her appearance but couldn't think of a plan to deal with it yet. The shinigami remained at the door for a few seconds then crossed the room– stepping through Yumi which made her shiver noticeably– and stood by the book shelves.

Yumi watched it as it moved, after it stopped and turned around to look back at her both the shinigami and Raito noticed at the same moment that she could see it.

"Can you see me?" the shinigami asked her seeming amused at having to ask the question.

"Yes, quite clearly, I'm Yumi, nice to meet you... um..."

"Ryuk." the shinigami finished her sentence, Yagami stiffened and glanced at his desk.

"Yes, I know about the death note. No, I haven't touched it. Yes, I've searched your room. No, I don't work for L or the police." Yumi answered his unspoken questions.

That seemed to strike a chord with both Raito and the shinigami.

"Your lying." Yagami said, "if you hadn't touched the death note, you wouldn't be able to see Ryuk." he pointed out trying to sound like he was in control.

"No, I could already see shinigami, Ryuk, even before the case started, how do you think I found you?" Yumi pointed out, it was the main reason she was there.

"How could you...?" he faded out, there was no need to finish the question.

"I just can, ok?" Yumi answered rolling over onto her stomach to face him.

"That's interesting." Ryuk commented from his place in the corner.

Yumi smiled at him, she had always liked shinigami, and Ryuk seemed to be enjoying the entertainment provided by the scenario.

"Ok, what do you want?" Raito asked, he wanted to resolve this problem as soon as possible, he reached for something in his back pocket.

"The end of Kira's killing spree." Yumi answered calmly, Raito pulled out his wallet, there was a red aura in the center of it, he was going to try and kill her.

"Yumi? Is it?" he asked, Ryuk chuckled, he could tell she had no name just by looking at her.

"No, it's not." she answered smiling as she swung her whole body around and sat on the edge of the bed. She crossed her legs in a mirror of Raito's sitting position, even though she could feel her deductive ability drop.

She remained in a normal sitting position on the bed for Raito's benefit only, she found it unlikely that he would be able to take any more weirdness in one night.

Her response seemed to annoy Raito which made shinigami Ryuk laugh even more.

"Nice try, but you won't be able to kill me with that little piece in your wallet." Yumi boasted, Raito seemed confused, probably because she hadn't seen the paper itself, just the aura around it.

"Alright, you said you don't work for L but I–" he was cut off.

"I don't, don't work for him, don't talk to him, wonderful person, but never met him." Yumi said firmly, though she was sure she had contradicted herself.

"– I can't afford to believe that." he finished stubbornly, Yumi felt a pang of remorse as she noticed a thread of L's personality, or at least his tenacity, in Raito.

She pushed the thought away, this wasn't the time for separation anxiety.

"Well, you don't have a choice, because it's the truth, if I were working for L then I wouldn't have come here I would have just turned you in after the bus jacking thing yesterday." Yumi stated, and it was true, if she was working the case officially then she would have gone strait to L and told him about the death note.

Recognition seemed to smack Raito in the face, as the connection between Yumi and the bus jacking was both sudden and painful for him to make.

"I'm guessing that you haven't killed the tail yet, because that would have been in the police files I hacked this morning." Yumi continued, though the last part had been a bluff, she hadn't actually checked the police files since before the bus jacking, but she didn't feel like explaining her "red auras" to Raito as the reason for her theory.

"You hacked the police files?" Raito asked as if the fact that a girl could hack at all was a shock to him, Yumi considered showing him her Capoiera the hard way for being just plain sexist.

Yumi rolled her eyes at his ignorance, "Yes, but so do you so don't think you have any right to lecture me about it." she said.

"So, why didn't you go to the police?" Raito asked her.

"I'm avoiding someone." Yumi said bluntly, she was avoiding L, which was the best of reasons that she could come up with to not tell the police about the death note. Wide spread panic didn't count.

The only reason she had pushed so hard about not working with L was because then his name wouldn't come up in conversation as much, also Raito wouldn't consider Yumi as much of a threat if she refused to share what she knew with the police.

Though he wasn't satisfied with her answer.

"So you've never met L?" he asked, ignoring the need to point out that "avoiding someone" wasn't a valid reason.

"Nope, never in my life." Yumi stated, in truth she could work things out in her mind to where she was telling the truth, because at one time, "L" had been two people, L the person and Yumi, but because they had both been L at the time and because –for the purpose of this question– Yumi could believe that it was impossible to meet yourself, she could say that she had never met L as a united front.

Though if you removed all of that, her answer was just a blatant lie.

Raito seemed to except that, or more, he stopped asking about it.

"So, what do you plan to do here?" he asked, that was the main thing he needed to learn about her, her intent.

"I plan to watch. Until you give up the death note, or die, I'll stay here like the shinigami, Ryuk, then destroy the death note, oh, if Ryuk doesn't need it that is." Yumi answered, glancing at Ryuk to confirm that Kira's death note was an extra and not having it wouldn't kill Ryuk later on. Though the whole answer had been a lie anyway, in truth Yumi was waiting for Yagami to let his guard down –specifically the one on his desk drawer– then she would take and destroy the death note.

Yagami looked skeptical, but he didn't have much choice other then to let her do as she pleased until he got her name, and if she was watching him, then he could keep an eye on her as well.

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**author's note:** sorry I'm late with this one, my computer isn't working, but I think it's fine for now, I did lose some time on this one but here it is at long last. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 36**

**Helpless Situation**

After the first night Yumi had taken to staying in Raito's room at all times, she often slept, or rather not slept, on his floor or talked to Ryuk on the balcony for hours.

She liked Ryuk, he was different from Kyu and when she had finally built up the courage to ask, he told her that the two of them had once met.

A few years ago, Kyu had spent a long time watching a girl who had once owned a death note, but had given up ownership soon after gaining it. When Ryuk had asked him why he watched her, Kyu had said that he felt responsible for her being alone, and he felt that he should tell her how few years of life she had left.

"_There's no point to watching that human every day." Ryuk said to the other shinigami, Kyu._

_Kyu was a brown and black shinigami he looked like a vulture, but at the same time he had large boney ears like a rabbit or dog, he hadn't stopped staring at the girl since he had come back to the shinigami realm five years ago._

"_All humans die eventually, so there's no point in getting upset over one girl's death." Ryuk didn't see the point in watching one human for so long._

"_But, she's all alone, she doesn't have anyone to help her..." Kyu sighed, he blamed himself for that._

"_Come on, she's not that important... uh... I mean... she's not alone, there's that boy that's always around. She looks like she likes him." and there had been a boy, the black haired boy who had dragged her halfway across the world, but she didn't seem to mind the moving much._

"_She only has a few years left, why would she die so soon?" Kyu sighed._

"_Probably an accident." Ryuk answered his question. It had been rhetorical._

"_Only sixteen, she won't live past sixteen..." Ryuk though that Kyu's obsession with the girl was pathetic._

"_Look, she's going to die one day, if it's not at sixteen then it's later on, but she still wont live forever whatever you do." Ryuk pointed out, he had never met a shinigami that cared so much about a human._

"_I should tell her about her death, she should know, maybe if she knows she can stop it from happening." Kyu said._

"_Hey, you know we can't tell humans when they're going to die, it's against the rules. You'll probably be punished for it." Ryuk pointed out, though seeing a shinigami killed over a human could be interesting, and lately Ryuk had been pretty bored._

_But Kyu just sighed. The girl did seem happy, maybe it was better that she had left Kyu and met that boy. She looked better then she had with the man who had raised her. The man, the one who had tracked down and killed all the family she had. The one who had made the girl lonely._

_Kyu knew that telling her when she would die wouldn't save her life, it would only get him killed as well, it had to be an accident._

_The girl looked happy when she was with the boy, she was laying in her bed alone when Kyu decided to warn her, but not directly, there was something that worried Kyu even more then her death._

_It was the fact that if her death was caused by the boy who she seemed to care so much about, then she would die in agony. Kyu wanted to avoid that._

_He leapt through the hole and into the human world, shinigami couldn't go to the human world without a reason, so Kyu resolved to kill someone when he finished with what he was doing. Ryuk wondered what the other shinigami was doing but forgot about it and continued thinking of ways to alleviate his growing boredom._

_Kyu flew down into the room that the girl had fallen asleep in, the boy was in the other room working on something, but he wouldn't be able to see him anyway so it didn't really matter, what needed to be avoided was the girl waking up._

_Kyu leaned over the girl and whispered in her ear, being careful not to wake her, "If that boy is the reason for your death, then I'll kill him." he whispered._

_Even in her sleep the girl responded to losing the boy, she rolled over and moaned loudly, at first Kyu thought she would wake up, but it was most likely just a dream._

_Was losing that boy really so terrible for her? She wasn't even conscious and she was moaning like death itself._

_The boy in the other room heard her and a moment later the door opened, Kyu flinched at first worried that the boy would see him like the girl had, but the messy haired boy didn't notice._

_He crossed the room, dragging a heavy chair across the floor behind him, when he reached the girl's bedside, he pulled the chair into position and sat next to her._

_He placed his hand on her forehead and began to whisper things to her that Kyu couldn't hear. The boy seemed to comfort her in a way that no shinigami ever could. Perhaps it was best that the girl stay with him after all?_

"_Take good care of her, I will be watching." Kyu warned the boy, there was no way he could hear him but the boy seemed to nod slightly then stopped himself from getting even closer to the girl. He removed his hand and left the room, the boy went to the kitchen to prepare for the girl's awakening._

_Kyu flew off, the girl would be fine with this boy, she would live happily throughout her life._

When Ryuk finished explaining this, Yumi was close to tears, though she didn't truly feel like crying, so she just sat there and shook until Raito came home from school.

Ryuk was supposed to stay with Raito, but since he hadn't felt completely comfortable leaving Yumi with the death note for six hours, Raito had told Ryuk to stay at the house for that day.

Ryuk wasn't the kind of shinigami to take orders from a human, but Yumi was interesting, she could see him without touching the death note after all, so Ryuk had agreed to stay with her.

The fact that Yumi was more or less living with Raito now was beneficial to both of them at the time, for Yumi it was a place to stay and she could keep an eye on Kira. Raito saw it as a way to insure that Yumi couldn't go to the police.

So in short, both sides could watch each other in this situation. Also because Yumi was always with Raito, she couldn't think about how much she missed L, and Ryuk's story made that even more important for her, because if she thought about him too much then one of two things would happen if not both.

1) Raito would learn that L and Yumi were connected and that would put L in danger.

2) Yumi would break down crying and make a complete fool of herself because she missed him more then anything else.

Of course she wouldn't say that out loud.

Seven days after the first night, Raito disappeared around noon, Yumi couldn't find him because the piece of death note he had was so small, and although she could feel other auras moving around, she hadn't thought of the possibility that he was carrying more pages until after.

Yumi couldn't search the whole Kanto region for one teenager, and there were too many auras to sift through, so she spent the day lying on the floor of his room, hoping that he didn't do anything stupid and get caught by L.

Yumi knew that L would find the death note if Yagami was searched, and if he found the death note then Yumi would be obligated to explain how it worked to him, then she would have to answer the questions that he asked her about how she knew.

She felt completely helpless, and she hated the feeling, so to avoid the feeling, Yumi began to search the room.

She had already searched through the bookshelves, and opened the desk drawer to find a plain diary, which she read through a few times– for investigational purposes– it was a bit boring.

Then twelve more auras lit up, Yumi sighed wondering why Yagami had decided to kill another twelve people.

She was so bored by that point that she decided to hack the police again. From Raito's computer.

She knew that if the hack was traced back to that computer then Raito would be caught for sure and that was something that she needed to avoid, so she was even more careful getting in, she broke the codes and opened up the file in under a minute.

She found another note, it was obvious that Raito had sent this for the sole purpose of annoying L because the bus jacking thing was already over.

_Gods can't help me. I'm sick_

_of waiting. I want_

_death. I'm ready for it._

It was a week old and L had most likely solved it already, but Yumi decided to figure it out, if nothing else then just for fun.

The sentences all made sense in this one though, which meant that It probably followed the same pattern as the last note.

The first word of the first line was "gods" the first word of the second line was "of" Yumi could already see where this was going, the first word of the third line was "death", big surprise.

Shinigami. Gods of death.

Around that time Raito returned home and Yumi questioned him on where he had gone. She felt like a house wife, though she squashed that analogy as quickly as possible, she was just an investigator waiting for a mass murderer to come back from a errand run somewhere.

The next day, the news came and Yumi discovered where he had been all day.

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**author's note:**ha! The glitch is gone! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!I just thought I needed to A) explain Kyu's thought pattern, B) establish a bond between Yumi and Ryuk, and C) point out what had caused Yumi's nightmare about L dying back when she was eleven. Thanks again! See you tomorrow!


	37. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 37**

**Near Miss**

By new year's eve, Yumi had had enough with being passive, but what made it worse was the fact that twelve FBI agents had been killed by Kira on that day Yumi had spent alone in Raito's house. Four days ago, Kira had killed innocent people.

Raito himself didn't pay much attention to her and only spoke to her when there was something about the death note that he wanted to see if she knew, if she didn't know then she would ask Ryuk to tell her later, but the majority of the information was nothing new.

Though she was still bored, Yumi couldn't act until she found out how to open the desk trap and get the death note out, and Raito had been annoyingly careful about not letting her know how to open it.

What made things worse, was the fact that the desk drawer wasn't the only security Raito had, he would also put a slip of paper in the door when he left, just as much to keep Yumi in as to keep others out, though it was just a front.

The real security was the door handle, which he spent a strangely long time manipulating whenever he left his room. There was also a piece of pencil lead that sat on the hinge of the door and broke if anyone tried to open the door without taking it out first. Those tricks made it difficult for Yumi to walk in and out of the bedroom door when he left.

So she resorted to climbing out the window when she needed to leave, then climbing back in when she returned.

This was just to avoid questions from Raito about where she had gone.

The day after the FBI had been killed the news of their death and their over all presence in Japan reached the NPA, the whole task force now knew that L had been investigating them and their families.

And as if that weren't enough, the day after that a new note was sent to L, the note that finished the message.

_L do you know gods of death love apples?_

It was true that shinigami Ryuk loved apples, but that didn't help L's investigation at all. Not that Yumi wanted L to get anywhere near Kira so in the end, the pointless notes were a good thing for her.

Then it happened, it was night so Yumi was laying on Raito's bed while he worked on homework, it was really boring.

There was a break in the silence as Raito's mother called him down stairs, Yumi stayed where she was because she wasn't supposed to be in the house without permission anyway.

Raito left the room and walked down the stairs closing the door after him which bothered Yumi because it meant she couldn't eavesdrop on the meeting, a few minutes later Raito came back with a triumphant grin on his face, or more, a victorious sneer.

"What was it?" Yumi asked, she wanted to be informed.

"The task force it losing members after the deaths of the FBI in Japan, L's running out of people." he answered and Yumi froze.

L was losing support, this should have made Yumi feel better, it should have relieved some of her stress. But it didn't, logically, Yumi should be happy, after all with less people on the task force, L wouldn't be able to track down Kira as quickly as before, but it also meant he would be alone before long.

Yumi couldn't help but feel guilty, after all if she had stayed with him two years ago then he would always have at least one person with him, even if she was just a tool, to him, to use on his cases.

It was this guilt that led her to take a walk on new year's day. On January first 2004.

She didn't plan to go far, but her guilt wouldn't let her turn back just yet, she couldn't bring herself to go back for over three hours before she reached the center of town and decided it was time to turn around.

But on her way back to Raito's house, she was detoured by a shiny black car. At first she didn't make the connection. No she refused to make the connection.

But as the car pulled over to the curb and moved slowly to match her walking pace, there was no more denying it.

The window rolled down and the driver looked her over thoroughly before speaking.

"Yumi, do you need a ride?" Watari asked her from the driver's seat.

"Where to?" Yumi asked though she could guess the answer already.

"Would you consider helping with the Kira investigation? I'm sure you've heard of it." Watari suggested.

Yumi felt a stab of pain at the thought of seeing L again, and if she helped it would likely be through the police side of the computer anyway, but she did want to help. She wanted to help him.

"Alright, I'll help." Yumi tried to smile as she climbed into the back seat of the car.

It wasn't a far drive to the investigation headquarters, but it also wasn't a warehouse, or the police station, or anywhere else that Yumi would have expected to end up at.

"Um, is this the right place, Watari?" Yumi asked as the car stopped in front of the Imperial Hotel.

Watari chuckled softly as they entered through the front door of the hotel and walked into the elevator. They stood alone in the elevator as it rose to one of the higher floors.

"So, do you think he'll even remember me? I would really hate it if he called security or something." Yumi joked, but she was worried that it might really happen, and even if he did remember her, would he be angry? She had run away from him and left him more or less alone for two years.

The elevator opened on a floor that Yumi didn't bother to number, the two of them got out of the elevator and it closed– rather ominously– behind them.

The hall was silent, they began to walk down the halls passed the doors and tables and windows and other items that dotted the hallways, then they reached the room and Watari pulled a key out of his pocket.

He unlocked the door and walked inside, leaving Yumi in the hall contemplating if entering was really the best idea. Sensing that Yumi needed some time to consider the situation, Watari offered her the key, but she refused.

It was best to go in, she had decided, it was best to face him sooner then later.

Watari moved into the room, clearing the way for Yumi to follow him, and she did.

The room was a suite, so naturally it was larger then she had expected, but that in itself was to be expected. There was lost of furniture, and several potted plants that helped Yumi focus on what she now had to do.

There was a small table right inside the door, and at least five cell phones sat turned off on top of it, Yumi guessed what had caused this and took her own cell phone out of her bag, placing it on the table.

No one even knew her number, so the only thing she kept the phone for was when she needed to make emergency calls like to the police or fire brigade.

She left her bag on the table too, thinking that it was best not to have access to a fire arm at the moment, once she had unloaded all her things onto the table she attempted to back away from it, straiten up, and turn the corner all at once.

It didn't work, and her ankle caught on one of the table legs causing the whole table to fall over, throwing cell phones across the floor and making a lot of noise. Yumi had fallen over when she tried to stop the table from capsizing, so when Watari, L and five other men, one of which she recognized as Soichiro Yagami, came around the corner, Yumi was on the floor attempting to pick up all the cell phones and celebrating the fact that her gun hadn't fired when it hit the ground.

She tried to turn her back to the others, and just focus on the cell phones but that task didn't take up much time, she even straitened out the table and placed the phones back onto it before turning to finally face the men.

In the front of the group was a large man who looked almost like a brick wall in a suit, to his left was a shorter man with almost fluffy hair, there was an even shorter man with a strangely mouse-like face, a younger looking man who couldn't have been more then twenty five...

... then there was L, he hadn't changed much in the last two years. He wore baggy faded jeans and a loose white shirt, his black hair was unruly as ever and he wore no shoes or socks.

Yumi couldn't speak at first, the five other men in the room were eyeing her suspiciously and the youngest man even looked to L as if expecting instructions. L and Yumi just looked each other over carefully, they memorized every detail of each other neither moving for several silent minutes.

Then Yumi had to speak, if only to stop the staring of the five police officers.

"Th-this is different, no warehouse?" she asked L to change the subject.

"I can't meet the police in a warehouse." L pointed out flatly, Yumi almost flinched at his voice, it seemed different somehow or maybe it had just been a while.

"That's true." Yumi agreed, then turned her attention to the other men.

"I'm Yumi, nice to meet you." she said to the remainder of the task force, they seemed confused by her presence.

"I'm Matsuda." the young man said, Yumi could tell he was inexperienced simply because he had spoken first.

"Mogi." said the brick man.

"Aizawa." said the man with the fluffy hair.

"Ukita." said the short man.

Yumi wasn't sure what to do next so she smiled at the task force. She was careful to avoid L's gaze.

"Do you mind if I help with the case?" she asked, she hoped L would let her help him, now that she was here it would be far too painful to just leave again.

"Yes, if you want to help you can." L said, he didn't seem to care either way.

Yumi was happy, but she still wondered if this was the right thing to do.

"Ok, then what have you figured out so far, L?" she asked, as they moved back into the other room so they could all sit down.

"Oh, and while we're working on this case, you should call me Ryuzaki." L said, changing the subject completely.

"Ryu– wait isn't that the name that–" she stopped herself, L no doubt knew where he had gotten the name from, and now that Yumi allowed herself to remember her time with L, she realized that the name Ryuzaki was the name that Beyond Birthday had used to introduce himself to Misora.

But, L must have known that already. "Ok, Ryuzaki then." she agreed, the task force members still seemed confused about what a girl was doing in the hotel room, she wasn't even a police officer.

"Well, don't mind me, I'll pick up what you've got on the case as we go, please carry on with what you were doing." Yumi said, trying to smile politely, but she felt awkward sitting in that room.

"Very well," L said, turning back to business, "Watari?" he asked, the rest of his question was implied.

"Yes, I brought them as you requested." Watari answered.

"Then could you pass them out please?" he asked, though he probably didn't need to.

"Yes, Gentlemen, these are your new Ids." Watari said ad he opened a case that he had brought with him and passed a fake ID to all of the task force members.

"What? Fake Ids?" was one of the cries of protest that followed. But Yumi had already found another fact to worry over.

The fact that the task force were being given fake picture Ids was a sign that L had figured out that Kira couldn't kill with just a face, or he would have given the police Ids without a photograph instead of just having a fake name.

How far had he gotten with the investigation? Yumi now realized that L had only improved over the last two years. So compared to that, was Yumi just standing still while others passed her by?

Was this whole case just another thing that L was better at then her? Was she going to be left behind again?

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**author's note: **I hadn't considered the fact that Yumi might have an inferiority complex before, but after constantly being second to L, or actually to put it in her words, "the lesser half" of L, would make her feel inferior after a while, though that never stopped her from trying to help him in any way she could. Thanks for reading and reviewing! See you tomorrow!


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 38**

**Strategy and Surveillance**

"Wow, it's like we're a top secret squad assigned to go after Kira!"

"Matsuda!" Yagami scolded, "don't be silly! We're not fooling around here."

"... yes Sir." Matsuda pouted.

Yumi had been right about Matsuda, he was childish and acted compulsively, but that wasn't a bad thing at all. In fact. Yumi saw his carefree attitude strangely likable.

"One more thing. There's nobody in the NPA's task force office right now. That's no good." L pointed out, Yumi saw his point. "Take turns so one of you is always over there." he instructed.

"We'll do that." Yagami answered, "Aizawa, you be the one today." he ordered.

"Yessir. I can be back there in five minutes." Aizawa said.

He left and for the first time it was clear to Yumi that only five task force members remained on the case. The group worked through the rest of the day gathering information on the FBI agents that Kira had killed.

The next day started out much the same way, Ukita went to the station to answer the phones and the rest of the team began to search for video tapes that showed the FBI agents actions that day.

"That's all of the security camera footage we managed to find showing the murdered FBI agents. We're lucky we found this much." Aizawa informed L as the group began to watch the tapes that were piled up around the couch in the main room.

"So we have three of them on camera when they had the heart attacks; Knick Staek was in a Ginza department store, Raye Penber was on a platform on the Yamanote line, and Nikola Nasberg was in Ikebukuro bank." he continued.

"As for the others, the most we could find was where they're leaving their hotels." he finished.

Yumi and L remained focused on the three screens, though Yumi only bothered watching the one that showed Raye Penber. He was already being manipulated by the death note, even on the blurry video tape the red aura was clear.

He was the tail that Raito had tricked into giving up his name using the bus jacking.

"Can you play back the parts where Raye Penber goes through the turnstile, where he gets on the train, and where he dies? I'd like to see those again next to each other." L requested, Yumi looked up at him– because she was sitting on the floor by his chair– how had he narrowed it down to Penber?

"He enters through a turnstile on the west side of Shinjuku station at 15:11. That matches what's printed on the back of his pass." L began to explain as the tapes played through again.

It's not the clearest image, but that's definitely Raye Penber. We don't have to send this to the lab to see that." he continued, "he gets on the train at 15:13. Even if he was shadowing someone at the time, this image isn't clear enough to figure out who it might be."

"And right before he died... very strange..."

Matsuda and Yagami looked at him, Yumi also wondered what he was thinking.

"He gets on the train at 15:13 he dies the moment he gets off at 16:45." he mumbled, expecting everyone to hear him anyway.

"One full circle on the Yamanote line loop takes one hour, and he was on there for an hour and a half... but no other ticket was found on him, and nothing is printed on his prepaid card to indicate he got out and reentered." Yumi noticed this too now that it was being explained.

"Raye Penber received the file with the names and faces of all the FBI agents in Japan on his computer at 15:21. That's just eight minutes after he boarded."

"Penber sat on that train for an hour and a half with the file on him..." Yumi assumed the file was important, but no one had bothered to explain that to her.

"Kira can control people's actions right before they die. So I suppose we could just say that's the reason any of the agents acted strangely that day, but..." Yumi was shocked, she resolved not to underestimate L ever again, of course he would have had to figure that out to decode the notes left by the prisoners a while ago.

"What happened to the envelope?!" L exclaimed suddenly throwing the task force into a state of confusion.

"Huh?!" Aizawa asked.

"At the turnstile and on the platform, he's holding something like a manila envelope." L explained, Yumi knew paper fit in and envelope, she crawled over to the tv's and looked closely, there was an aura.

Why would Raito give Penber part of the death note then kill him? Wait did this have something to do with the file?

"Hey! Your right. He's definitely holding an envelope!" Aizawa called from Yumi's right side, he had gotten right up to the tv while Yumi wondered over Raito's plan, and his voice startled Yumi a bit.

"He's got it over here, too." he pointed to another screen, "I can't believe you noticed that, Ryuzaki."

"There was nothing like an envelope found on his body though." Yagami pointed out.

"Which would mean he left it on the train." L said, that made sense, in fact it made everything fit together.

If Penber had a file with the names and faces of the FBI agents, then instead of taking the file away from him, Raito gave Penber part of the death note and tricked him into killing the other agents, then he had him leave the pages on the train and killed him.

"Maybe... that envelope contained the file of the FBI agents in Japan..." Yagami suggested.

"And Kira got it from him, then made Penber get off and killed him." Matsuda chimed in.

"I thought he got this 'file' through a computer." Yumi pointed out. "And not until 15:21. Right?" she looked to L for conformation.

"Yes, Penber didn't have the file until he was on the train." L said.

"Oh, yeah..." Matsuda remembered.

"Get every station on the Yamanote line to give you all the footage they have for December 27th." L told Aizawa.

"Uh, okay..." Aizawa answered.

"And... this last image of Raye Penber... to me... it looks like he's deliberately trying to look into the train..." L commented.

"... and if he is, that's a clue?" Yagami asked.

"Wouldn't it be interesting if Kira was in there?" L wondered.

"You... couldn't be..." Yagami seemed unusually surprised by the suggestion that Kira even road the train.

"I agree, it isn't likely. If Kira can murder from afar, why would he bother going there...?"

"Still, he might have figured that's what we'd think and taken the risk of coming out in the open." L suggested.

"Well even if Kira was on this train, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't let himself be captured on a security camera with envelope..." he continued, "a public place like this, he would have checked the camera locations in advance and used the blind spots, if any. If not he'd hide behind someone."

"But if he_ is_ captured on camera with it, we could call him in as a material witness." L decided.

Yumi knew Raito wouldn't be caught on camera, but at the moment, all that she could really complain about was the fact that she would no doubt be stuck watching hours of security tapes with L.

______________________________________________________________________________

**author's note: **sorry short chapter, I'll try to write more in the future, but this one I had to copy a lot out of the manga and it took forever. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 39**

**Backfire**

Yumi could feel it coming before it happened.

Though when she felt "it" coming, she didn't really know what "it" was. Then L gave orders to the task force, and the identity of "it" became clear to her.

"Okay, so... Aizawa-san, you keep searching for connections between the eleven FBI agents and those heart attack victims- while Yagami-san and Matuda-san concentrate on what Raye Penber was up to." he said, and that was "it". What was "it" you ask?

Well "it" was the fact that Yumi had been given no orders, she had been forgotten in the rush to grasp the new lead they had found.

"Okay." Matsuda answered.

"I'm on it." said Aizawa, who was carrying a large stack of videos at the time.

Then the group was distracted from the conversation by Watari's cell phone ringing, everyone looked over to the desk he was sitting at.

"Yes... yes..." he said into the phone "please wait one moment." he requested to whoever was on the other end of the line, then he turned to L.

"Ryuzaki, it's from Ukita-san at the other office. He says he's on the line with someone who has interesting information." Watari said covering the phone with his hands.

"All right, tell him the number for line five, and have him ask the person to call back there." L answered calmly.

Yumi rolled her eyes and began to reach for her cell phone out of force of habit, but L didn't seem to need it and she stopped herself as he turned to face the rest of the room.

"Matsuda-san, you can turn your cell phone back on. That is, please turn it on." he instructed.

Yumi smirked a bit, though she wasn't sure why at the time.

"Huh? Oh, okay." Matsuda said as he pulled out his phone and turned it back on.

It rang instantly and Yumi had to try harder then usual to suppress her fit of laughter.

"Hey!" Matsuda cried as his phone rang, L swiped it out of his hand holding it between his first finger and thumb.

"Yes, this is Suzuki, head of the information processing unit for the Kira case." he said in a monotone voice that turned Yumi's fit of giggles into full laughter, which she was now twitching violently in order to suppress.

She could tell from the look on Matsuda's face that he had not been told about his phone's second purpose.

"Raye Penber's fiancee?!" L asked the caller, that was news, Yumi hadn't considered the possibility of Penber being engaged.

The person on the other line spoke for a few moments, Yumi was across the room and couldn't hear what was said.

"Naomi Misora?" L asked the tipster, Yumi looked at him in confusion, "I've heard that name before." he muttered to himself.

And as Watari typed something into the laptop, Yumi remembered why the name sounded familiar.

"Misora?! What happened? How is she involved?" Yumi asked, Naomi Misora was the FBI agent that L had used to solve that Los Angeles BB murder case two years ago. Yumi remembered that case clearly because it had been the last case that she had worked on with L before she had left him.

Watari turned the laptop around to show L the search results, it was a page on FBI agents, L stood very still as he read the information and continued to listen to the informant.

"Yagami-san. There's no way of tracing a cell phone if it's turned off, is there?" L asked after a moment or two of silence, he had ignored Yumi's question.

"No..." Yagami answered, unsure of why the question had been asked.

L hung up the phone and handed it back to Matsuda.

"Ryuzaki, did you hear me? How is Misora involved in this?" Yumi tried again.

"When Raye Penber entered Japan, his fiancee was with him. She was staying with him in his hotel..." L began to explain.

"And the day after Penber died, she went missing..." he trailed off.

"Anybody would get depressed if her fiancee died, you don't think..." Matsuda wondered, the sentence was finished by Aizawa.

"She killed herself..." he said.

"Don't be stupid!" Yumi cut off the morning as she stood to emphasize the importance of her words, "Misora's not the kind of person to get all depressed and suicidal! Think about it, she was in the FBI with Penber, that means she's got to be smart enough to figure out the obvious..." she began to explain.

"Also, she and Penber were _engaged_, and lovers trust each other, they tell each other everything." she couldn't help but glance quickly at L before continuing with her theory.

"So if something had happened to Penber before he died, like a few days before, then he no doubt would have told her. Then he died and she would have drawn conclusions that linked the two..." as she said this Yumi was thinking about the bus jacking incident, Penber should have told Misora about that.

"How do you know something happened before he died? He could have just started acting differently that day at the station..." Aizawa asked, that had been the down side to her outburst, she had known that something bad had happened to Penber before because she had been there with him at the time.

"Well, um.. Kira uh... needs a name and a face to kill!" Yumi said jumping on the excuse as it occurred to her, "and because Penber was an FBI agent here secretly, no one would have known his name, so to kill him, Kira needed to find his name before he died, and that would have taken some kind of serious situation to make his disobey orders and give out his name, and probably the fact that he was an FBI agent too." she said, looking at L.

L was looking back at her, but there was something about the look that made Yumi feel slightly uncomfortable, like he was waiting for something. No, like he'd been waiting... Yumi looked away.

"So your saying that she found something?" Yagami asked.

"What?... oh! Well she must have, or she most likely wouldn't have gone missing..." she had lost track of the conversation and the question shocked her back into full focus.

Still Yumi couldn't help but wonder where she had seen that look before... _something in his eyes..._

She shook her head to clear the thoughts away there was no point in wondering about that now.

"So, what do you think, Ryuzaki?" she asked, in hopes that he would return his attention to the case.

"You may be right, it is possible that Misora found something."he said the task force waited for him to continue.

"Haley Belle was the first person to receive the file. Penber called him minutes before that. Belle then sent Penber the file right away..." L said turning his back to Yumi and the task force.

"So the one who wanted the file first could have been Penber. That's very significant."and it was, Yumi regretted for a moment that she had voiced the idea, now L could find all kinds of ways to narrow down the suspects to Raito, and if the happened...

... Raito was smart. Insane and egotistic, but smart all the same, and because of that Yumi could be almost certain that he would not make the eye deal.

But even for someone smart there was such a thing as being pushed to the limit. And once L got close enough to force Raito past that breaking point, he could possibly make the deal as a last resort.

So if Yumi didn't destroy the death note before L got close enough to Kira to put himself in danger, then there was a chance that L could... die... the thought hurt like being stabbed, and Yumi promised that she wouldn't let it happen, that she wouldn't let L catch Kira, for his own safety he had to fail.

"Here's what to do." L started to say, Yumi realized that she had lost track of the conversation and hoped she hadn't missed much.

"We're narrowing our investigation down to those Raye Penber was probing before December 19th, when Kira started conducting tests on prisoners. That's very few people." Yumi couldn't help but jump at the last part, how few?

"However... since it's quite possible that Kira is one of them, calling them in for questioning is not going to work. It's too dangerous." he continued.

"Our focus will be two NPA personnel, and their families..." uh-oh, "Penber reported there were 'no grounds for suspicion' for any of them, but... never the less inside those two homes..."

Here it comes, Yumi thought and braced herself.

"We will place secret cameras and listening devises." and the bomb went down.

This was trouble.

"Wh... what?! This is Japan! That's totally illegal!" Matsuda cried out.

"Yeah... that's going too far, Ryuzaki..." Aizawa joined the protest.

"If that got out there'd be a huge scandal, we'd all be fired. Not just that, we'd be arrested..." he argued.

"So you won't risk your jobs? I thought you were risking your _lives _for this." L said, he seemed calm, he knew the task force would see the logic in his comment.

"Who were the two NPA personnel that Penber was probing?" Yagami asked, Yumi flinched, this was going to be hard to swallow for him.

"Let's see, that's before December 19th..." Matsuda reviewed the list of Penber's targets.

He froze mid sentence, then shakily read the names.

"Deputy director general Kitamura and his family. And detective superintendent Yagami and his family." Matsuda read.

"I'd like to place bugs and hidden cameras in those two homes." L said driving the point home. Yagami looked like he was about to collapse from the shock alone.

"But... in Japan, that's an illegal violation of human rights!!" Matsuda protested.

"If this gets out, they'll dismantle the task force!"

"I promise you, nobody will ever find out." L assured them, but Yumi still felt sorry for Yagami, Kira was his son after all...

"Ryuzaki... what is the probability of Kira being in one of those families...?" Yagami asked.

Yumi tried hard no to shout out "100 percent!" and luckily she was able to stop herself from doing so.

"Ten percent..." L said, "no, five percent." he corrected himself.

"Just five percent...?"

"It should be at least fifty percent for that extreme a step."

"No, our investigation hasn't turned up anything close to a suspect so far..." Yagami began, "even a probability of one percent is better then that, and needs to be scrutinized..." he pointed out.

"Yes, but with bugs and hidden cameras?! In the deputy chief's house, and your own...?!" Matsuda asked, "there's got to be other ways."

Yagami was on the verge of spontaneously combusting, but he looked L in the eyes and spoke as calmly as possible.

"I find it extremely galling, to say the least, to have my own family placed under suspicion." he said, "so very well, go ahead. you have my permission!" he looked like he was alright, but Yumi could tell he was wishing for a gun.

"But if you do this... I insist you go all the way. I want bugs and cameras in the bathrooms, hallways, every inch of the house so that nothing is missed!!" he instructed.

"Thank you, that's exactly what I plan to do." L said.

"S-sir! are you serious?!"

"Do you really understand what that means?!"

"Think about your wife! and your daughter!" the task force protested.

Yumi had to find a way to alert Raito, she wasn't double crossing L, but if L caught Raito with the cameras then the death note would be revealed as the murder weapon, and L would try to close in on him.

"I'm fully aware of what this means!" Yagami's sudden anger startled Yumi, "including the fact that it's meaningless if it isn't done thoroughly! Now just shut up!!" he shouted, and Yumi wondered how he would react to his son actually being Kira.

"Sorry, sir..." Matsuda said timidly.

"It's okay... I'm sorry, too..." Yagami answered.

"As a courtesy to Yagami-san... surveillance of the Yagami home will be carried out by him and myself only-" he said, that was bad, now Yumi _needed_ to contact Raito. "While the rest of you take turns doing the following- two people keep watch over the Kitamura house, one person mans the NPA office..."

"And one of you look through the Yamanote line security videos to see if anyone from the Kitamura or Yagami families is pictured." he finished.

"The bugs and cameras will be in place for seven days." he said, "this period may be shortened or extended depending on the circumstances."

"In either case I will tell you about it, you have my word I will not extend it secretly. So that's alright then?" he asked.

"Watari, how long will it take you and Yumi to get the bugs, cameras and monitors ready?" L asked, and Yumi glanced at him in confusion, she hadn't expected to be counted as a computer-camera person.

"Starting tomorrow... they can be installed any time once we know when nobody will be home." he answered. Yumi was– at this point– hoping she would not be expected to assemble a camera or bug, because she wasn't the best with her hands...

The task force was silent.

"Good, so we'll need at least two monitoring rooms set up in another hotel. Once the bugs and cameras are in place, we'll move over to that hotel." L concluded.

Once the task force had left for the night, Yumi learned that her part in the bug/camera scandal was to install them in the houses, not assemble them along side Watari. This fact was a source of great relief for her as she had been terrified of breaking several thousand dollars worth of technology.

Once this had been cleared up Yumi decided to attempt sleep.

She made her way to one of the two bedrooms, the hotel rooms that they stayed in all had two, not long after Watari had left for the night, his room was down the hall from the one she shared with L.

She had let slip the fact that she was currently homeless and L invited her to stay with him until the case was solved.

The bed was bigger then any she had slept in before, even the bed in her ex-apartment was only large enough for one person, because it only needed to be large enough for one.

But because the space made her feel awkward and small, she wound up laying on her back in the center of the bed with her arms spread wide staring at the ceiling.

It was about two in the morning when she had lay down and it was roughly two thirty or so when the door open again.

Yumi had not been asleep, she had been thinking far too much to sleep, so when the door opened she was ready to fight off the intruder. Though she had left her gun in the main room...

Of course the rug was pulled out from under her feet as L entered, closing the door behind himself.

Yumi sat up in bed and looked at him, the room was dark so she couldn't see his face at all, she resorted to her back up plan.

"What is it?" she asked, because there was no way he had come just to stand there looking out of place in her dark bedroom.

He didn't respond, and even in the dark Yumi could tell something was bothering him.

"Did something happen?" she asked, getting a bit worried now.

"No, it's just..." he trailed off.

Yumi gave up and lay back down, there was no point in depriving herself of sleep to watch him stand there.

She stared at the ceiling waiting for the door to open and close again, signaling L's departure, but the door didn't open.

Yumi closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again when she heard footsteps on the thick carpet.

She didn't sit up again, it was probably nothing after all, so she lay in bed for another three seconds before an over whelming urge to open her eyes got the better of her. She blinked a few times before realizing that L was standing over her, almost hovering in the darkness, right at the edge of the bed near her left hand.

Something had to be wrong.

She opened her mouth to ask what it was that was bothering him, but he beat her to it.

"How did you know?" he asked her, "how did you know that lovers tell each other everything?" the question confused Yumi at first, she couldn't decide why L would ask her something like that.

"Um, well, I guess I just saw that kind of thing in romance movies, lovers always seem to tell each other everything, or at least I thing they do. Does that ruin my theory?" she asked, that was most likely why he was here, to question her theory. Poke holes in her deduction because she had never actually been in love to know if her lover would tell her everything or not.

"No, it doesn't, I just wanted to know." L said, he seemed uneasy about something, but Yumi didn't really bother to ask what it was.

"Ok, well you got your answer. Good night." she said cheerfully and rolled over so she could face away from him, it had been a stupid reason to wake her. She hadn't been asleep, but if she had then–

She felt a pressure on the curve of her waist, at first she tensed to kick the thing away, but then the pieces clicked into place as she realized the thing was L's hand.

Several things ran through her mind at that moment, but the most noticeable thought was something along the lines of "what the?!"

She half turned to ask what he was doing, but a second hand joined the first, it stroked her cheek and moved down her neck.

Was this some kind of test? Was L waiting for her to react the wrong way of something so he could kick her out?

"What– what are– " words wouldn't come and she had to take a deep breath before she could force a coherent sentence from her throat. "What are you doing?" she tried to ask, though she lacked the breath to put more volume into her question.

He heard her and the hands froze in place.

To Yumi, the moment the hands stopped, she regained the ability to move and speak, and she used it by turning round to face him.

Only he was_ right _there. So close Yumi could smell his breath, he had been bending over her and she was now too close to think clearly.

She knew that opening her mouth could cause disaster at that moment, so she closed her eyes and waited for a normal pulse to sound in her chest.

She breathed in and out, in and out for what felt like several minutes, until she was sure he would be gone what she opened her eyes again.

But alas, he was not, she was sure that the darkness did not hide the vibrant red she had turned.

"Why are you...?" she sounded winded like she had just run miles, and the question wasn't really thought through, why are you...? could end several ways, she tried again.

"What are you doing, Ryuzaki?" she managed to ask, though she very nearly called him L or worse, Lawliet...

"I'm glad." he said, Yumi was fairly certain that, that was not the answer to her question.

And even more then that, was the fact that he now sounded completely calm, especially for some one who's face was inches from hers. Yumi could probably punch him if she moved fast, but she was now curious.

"What? Your glad?" she asked.

He nodded, "I'm glad your theory, it was based on a movie." he said, Yumi didn't understand what he meant. Was he saying that movies were more trust worthy then people?

She didn't bother to ask, "Well, I'm– gulp– happy for you?" she was guessing at how to respond.

This was getting out of hand, and Yumi needed sleep, there was always the option of knocking him unconscious, and physically dragging his body into the hall, but that was too much. However unless he left soon, Yumi would have to install cameras tomorrow without any sleep.

She was about to ask him to leave when he cut her off, he was very good at having bad timing.

"Can I lay down?" he asked, now he seemed nervous again, Yumi's brain stopped working properly and she had to force herself to hear the rest of the sentence, "there is only on bed." he finished.

Yumi couldn't do much more then nod a bit, she was trying to figure out why the bed in the other bedroom didn't count.

It was dark but L saw her nod, and crawled into bed next to her, she moved out of the middle to give him more room, then lay back down, expecting that to be the end of it and closed her eyes.

The arm was back, it hadn't been enough that he had nearly given her a heart attack the first time, so now he was trying it again.

Removing him by force was starting to sound better, but she ignored that desire and made to move his arm away from her waist.

His arm was warm, but that wasn't important.

Yumi grabbed his wrist, he was being very still, so she half believed that he was asleep already, but his eyes were open. When she grabbed his wrist to move his arm away he tightened his grip, he was... resisting her? He wouldn't let go of her waist, though she couldn't honestly say she tried very hard.

She gave up after about thirty seconds of L not taking the hint that she was trying to separate them. He was warm, Yumi felt stupid at this point, but decided since she was here, that she would push her luck a bit.

She moved closer to him, not much closer, because they hadn't been far apart to begin with, but the small move brought her close enough to touch his neck with the tip of her nose.

She didn't, but she could have. And that did it, L's arm wrapped tight around her waist pulling her into him, not with force, but she didn't feel like moving away at the moment.

Yumi caught herself thinking something like "he smells nice" and quickly tried to distract herself.

But she was too close to him to really think about much else at the moment, so she gave up all together and curled up against him, it felt odd at first, being held like that by her first and only childhood friend.

But she couldn't find the strength to resist, she didn't have enough reason to pull away, and it wasn't like anything serious would happen, there was no chance.

That thought made her feel a bit better, and she closed her eyes, burying her face in his white shirt.

"Yumi?" he asked, his voice was soft, like he was trying not to wake a sleeping child.

She pulled back enough to see his face, and it was _close_.

Not inches away, more like centimeters from hers, and there was only one reason in the world that could exist for that kind of closeness.

Panic was a new feeling, mostly because Yumi felt it over something that didn't really put her life in danger, but she still couldn't find much difference between the panic she felt now, and the fear of being shot that she lived with every day.

He was so close, _centimeters_ away and the gap was closing, fast.

Yumi couldn't find as many reasons as she would have liked for rejecting the kiss, but she still felt that it was a bad idea all together.

It hurt, more then she would ever admit even to herself, but she turned her head a the last second, L understood what she meant and backed off, his arms loosened too, like he was allowing her to pull away if she wanted to. It was her choice now, she could decide wether or not he would stay.

But she wanted him to stay, stupid as it was– as it felt– Yumi wanted L to stay with her, she didn't want to be alone.

She didn't pull away, instead, she curled back up against him, pushing herself into him.

She couldn't bring herself to kiss him, but she wouldn't be able to take it if he left.

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**author's note: **that was long, sorry, I tried to make that– long– last part sound ok, but I've never written anything like that before, so sorry if it sucks :( thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	40. Chapter 40

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 40**

**Dodge**

When Yumi opened her eyes the next morning, she was struck by six thoughts all at once.

Two of which she allowed herself to contemplate, three she forced away, and one she was unable to catch before it disappeared.

The thoughts were as follows in order of tolerance:

1) I must still be asleep.

2) I need to be careful or I'll wake L.

3) he's so warm...

4) I don't want to move.

5) ... I wish I had let him kiss me...

And the sixth she was unable to recall.

Yumi was barely able to breath due to the position in which she had fallen asleep, she was pressed tightly against L's chest, and somehow throughout the corse of the night she had seized fistfuls of his white shirt.

The spot her head had been laying against was damp, and Yumi hoped more then anything that she hadn't been drooling in her sleep.

But as she moved her hand to her face, and wiped the water from her eyes, she realized that she hadn't been drooling into L's shirt after all.

She moved carefully and slowly, knowing that L was still asleep and she wanted to be sure he continued sleeping until he woke on his own.

The fact that he was still there when she woke was surprising, all the years that they had lived together L rarely slept at all, and when he did it was usually after Yumi fell asleep and he was back to work before she woke up.

So not only was she surprised to find him still there, she was also shocked to learn that he was still fast asleep.

Neither of them had moved since they had first lay down together, which meant Yumi was still held against L's chest, with his arms wrapped around her tightly.

She knew it was wrong, but Yumi couldn't resist pressing in even closer to him, it was almost like wish fulfilment for her to have him there, and though she hated thinking ahead that far, she knew that once the case was over and the death note had been destroyed, she would most likely leave him again.

She wanted to go back to sleep, and at that moment she dreaded the fact that check out was at nine am. Yumi closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep again, she hoped for another few hours to lay there unconscious.

But that wasn't how it was meant to happen, after a few minutes of trying to sleep, Yumi returned to her senses.

She realized how stupid she was acting, and set her mind to pulling out of L's arms without waking him, it took a few minutes, he was holding on quite tightly, but then she climbed out of bed, pulled on her favorite pair of jeans and left the room.

She opened the refrigerator and pulled out some left over cake while a pot of coffee brewed on the counter.

Yumi sat down with her coffee in one hand and her cake on the table, then began to add sugar cubes to the black liquid as she thought about what had happened.

She had been close, so close in fact that she considered leaving again.

It was mere chance that she had woken first, mere chance that she had been able to decide wether or not he could kiss her– though she now regretted her decision– and mere chance that had brought them back together after two years.

_Plop plop plop_

she could have let him, it would have made her happy...

_Plop plop plop_

she groaned, thinking about this wasn't going to help her destroy the death note, those thoughts could only get in the way.

The door opened, behind her and Yumi half turned to look before she felt something hot on her hand.

Shrieking she withdrew her had from the cup, and looked back down at it.

Lost in thought, Yumi had dropped so many sugar cubes into the coffee that it was overflowing and splashing onto the surface of the table. Her hand had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She licked the coffee off of her hand as she turned to face L, who had by now crossed to the coffee pot and poured his own cup.

"Morning." he said as he sat down across from her.

"Ouch... good morning." Yumi tried to answer but she had bit her hand quite hard when he had spoken.

L added what must have been twice the sugar that Yumi had put in her coffee, while they strategically avoided each other's gaze.

The silence stretched on.

Yumi finished her coffee and got up to wash the cup.

L sipped his sugar quietly as Yumi rinsed her cup in the sink, which gave her a good excuse for turning her back to him.

"About last night..." L began.

"No, don't... it's ok." Yumi cut him off as she wiped her wet hands on her shirt.

She turned around to face him, but he was sitting at the table with his back to her. She sighed in frustration.

"I'm going to take a shower before check out." she announced, though she didn't really have to say anything, he would have figured out what she was doing.

There was no answer.

Yumi walked into the bathroom, locked the door behind her and turned the water on. She didn't need to worry about this right now... she had other things to stress her out.

It had been six o'clock at the time, so after three hours of distractions they checked out of the hotel and drove to the next one.

Yumi couldn't help remembering how the moving between cases had bothered her at first, now that seemed like a childish thing to complain about, as they moved for the third time that week.

Once they had unpacked and claimed rooms at the new hotel, Yumi slipped the key in her pocket and walked toward the door.

"I'm going to install the cameras now." she told L who was sitting on the couch staring at the wall of tv monitors.

No answer.

Yumi rolled her eyes and left the room as L continued to watch the blank monitors.

In the hall outside the room, Yumi met Watari and the two left for the suspects houses, Watari carried a large bag filled with cameras and bugs, while Yumi fingered the key in her jean pocket.

They set up the Kitamura's house first, as Yumi planted the last camera, Watari called L to ask if the reception was ok, it was and they moved to the Yagami house.

Watari set up the cameras and bugs in the living room and kitchen, while Yumi went strait for Raito's room, she opened the door, making sure the pencil lead broke, and went inside, she set up bugs and cameras anywhere she could think of, to avoid blind spots.

She knew that leaving blind spots would only make L suspicious of her, then she left, closing the door behind her and replacing the piece of paper, she didn't adjust the handle.

That was the best she could do, and that warning based a lot on Raito's deductive reasoning skills.

Yumi hoped that Raito would figure out someone was in his room, someone who would take time to put the piece of paper back in the door.

They finished setting up the cameras and bugs in the house then they left for the hotel. Yumi wasn't keen to see L again just yet, and the fact that she wasn't allowed to watch the Yagami surveillance didn't help the situation.

"I'm going to go shopping, Watari," Yumi said, she had no money, so shopping obviously wasn't her real goal, still if it got her away from Watari, L, and the task force for a while, she would pull money out of thin air, "I have a key." she said, when Watari eyed her suspiciously.

That seemed to decide it for Watari, and he closed the car door, leaving her on the sidewalk.

Yumi waited outside the house until she saw Raito coming up the road.

She was being careful to stay away from the cameras monitoring the front yard, and because he had friends with him, Yumi couldn't talk to Raito at the moment.

She would have to wait for him to come back out of the house, which if he noticed the signs, wouldn't take long.

He must have noticed, because five minutes later Raito left the house and began to walk down the street.

Yumi followed him a ways then as he stopped to talk to Ryuk, she caught up with the pair.

Raito didn't look all too pleased to see her, that made Yumi laugh a bit before she could start explaining.

"Your house is under surveillance." she said flatly, he should have figured that out by now anyway.

"How did you know about the surveillance?" he asked, he had obviously figured it out.

"I set up the bugs and cameras." she didn't mind the look he gave her, though she could tell what his next question would be.

"Why? You already have evidence to convict me if you want." Raito asked, the fact that she was behind the bugs was making him nervous.

"L asked me to." Yumi had made a point that she did not work for L, she had stressed that fact ever since Raito had first asked her, but working for L and working with him weren't the same thing.

Raito didn't bother pointing out her loyalty issues.

"But, you have plenty of proof that I'm Kira, so why didn't you just tell L about the death note?" he asked her instead.

"Because he doesn't need to know." Yumi had almost spat those words out.

Ryuk laughed at Raito's apparent plight, he couldn't figure out what to do.

"But, the pencil lead was broken and the door handle wasn't adjusted, you knew about both of those, so why would you show me you went into my room?" that was a good question, but he could have figured it out on his own.

"Same reason I'm talking to you right now: I can't let L find the death note." Yumi answered.

"So please don't waist my effort getting caught." she requested. Raito was clearly unsure how to react at this point.

Yumi didn't give him time to think it through.

"Bye!" she said rather cheerfully as she turned and ran off, she returned to the hotel to find L and Yagami sitting in the living room watching the monitors.

Neither of them was shouting out "Raito is Kira!" so they must not have noticed anything suspicious about him so far. Of course there were still seven days of surveillance left, so Raito wasn't cleared yet.

Yumi went back to her room and lay down on her bed, this could be a very long seven days...

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**author's note:** ok, I don't really have much to say... so thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	41. Chapter 41

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 41**

**Sugar and Stress**

L was being impossible.

There was no other way to phrase it, he simply refused to forget the case for even a moment.

For two days after the midnight incident L and Yumi spoke no more then three words at a time. And because the monitors for the Yagami house surveillance were in the main room of the hotel suite they shared, Yumi was unable to spend more then five minutes at a time outside her own bedroom.

L and Yagami sat in front of the monitors almost 24/7 and Yumi wasn't allowed to help with the surveillance, so she spent large chunks of her time lying on her bed staring at the ceiling.

The lack of movement was driving her insane.

So on the third day, Yumi left the hotel, she hadn't had any particular reason for leaving at first other then escaping the boredom of her room, but as she boarded the train the trip turned into a chance to see Raito.

Apparently Raito had found some way to kill criminals without turning on his tv or searching through the internet for their names and faces, Yumi suspected modern technology had something to do with this, but didn't mention that to L.

She had to wait outside the house for Raito to come home from school, and even then she had to wait another few minutes for him to leave the house to talk to her.

"Good job." she said brightly, whatever he was doing it was keeping him out of jail for now and that deserved praise enough.

He didn't answer her.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "fine." she said dropping the pretense, "your getting sloppy, Kira, he's catching up." she said in a flat tone.

Raito looked around nervously in case someone had heard her, but Yumi knew they were safe.

"How far has he managed to narrow down the suspects?" he asked, Yumi bit her lip.

She honestly couldn't decide wether or not to answer that question. If she didn't answer it, then Raito would most likely go on assuming he was the only suspect, it was safest for him to act under that assumption.

Though if she did tell him, it would feel like she was double crossing L, though in a way she was. If the fact that she had already solved the case and was simply not telling him could be seen as an act of betrayal, then that was what she was doing.

"I can't tell you, but trust me he's getting close." she decided that staying close to neutral was the best course of action at this point.

Raito didn't see things that way.

"How can you expect me to trust you if you wont tell me something like that, it's not like I could figure out who L is just from the number of suspects he has." he complained, Yumi saw his point, but there was something else that stood out more then that.

"I never asked that you trust me, I'm just trying to stop L from finding the death note. That's all." she said, there was no point in hiding that fact from him.

That caused Raito problems, because she wasn't trying to gain his trust, and he didn't know her name, this woman was a danger to him regardless of how he looked at the situation.

And she knew that.

Raito had no way of killing her with the death note, even if he jumped her right at that moment to get at the bag she was carrying there was no guarantee that she would have any kind of identification on her, she knew what that could be used for.

So because she wasn't willing to do anything to help him, and because there was the obvious fact that she was working for L, Raito was at a stand still.

If she had been willing to simply cooperate with him, then he could have her kill L, or at least show him where L was hiding, but it was unlikely that she would be willing to help in that way, so there wasn't much he could do with her at that moment.

For Yumi however, that situation was exactly what she had hoped it would be. Raito was unable to kill her with the death note, and because she could turn him in with evidence to back it up, he would have to be careful around her.

"Who are you?" Raito asked her, it was a stupid question and he couldn't have expected an answer, but it was one of those "couldn't hurt to try" things that people do when their backed into corners.

Yumi had to laugh at his attempt, then she answered. "I told you, I'm Yumi." she said smiling at his frustration, the name she gave him was fake, but it was the closest thing to a real name she had ever had.

Ryuk laughed a bit and Raito glared over his shoulder at the shinigami, who obviously knew Yumi had no actual name to give him even if she was that stupid.

"Well," she said, there wasn't much more to talk about, and there was something she needed to do, "see you later I guess." Yumi said as she walked away, leaving Raito with the problem of finding her name.

The train took less time then she would have hoped to arrive back at the station nearest the hotel, Yumi wanted to stay out longer, if at the very least, to convince herself not to do what she knew would have to be done sooner or later.

But she knew that the longer she waited the worse it would get, so with a resigned sigh Yumi unlocked the hotel room and walked into the dark main hall.

She knew for a fact that this had to be done gently, or things could get even worse then they were now, so she walked into the kitchen first and made three cups off coffee, adding the normal amount of sugar before bringing them into the main room just to stall a bit longer.

She set the cups down on the coffee table and sat down on the floor between the two chairs that had replaced the couch. To her right was Yagami, who looked at her curiously and to her left was L who ignored her all together.

She had expected this, so she didn't really mind, but if he ignored her she would no doubt miss the opportunity to say what had to be said.

Yagami reached for his coffee and held it in his hands a bit before setting it back on the table, watching his family through hidden cameras was obviously depriving him of his appetite.

After a few minutes of watching the screens, L reached for his cup and took a sip. Yumi drank hers in silence, waiting she wasn't stupid so it was clear to her that she had taken advantage of the sugary diet she and L shared.

Yagami reached for his coffee again, and this time he drank it.

Yumi managed to ignore his cries of shock as the overly sugary coffee slid down his throat. He coughed a few times, and Yumi began to wonder if he was sugar intolerant, but after another moment the coughing subsided and he set the coffee back down on the table.

"Excuse me... _cough cough hack.._." he tried to say and headed for the bathroom.

Polite man, Yumi thought, he hadn't even complained about all the extra sugar she had added, of course it was only extra for him, people really should inspect things they plan on putting in their mouths.

"That wasn't necessary." L said, he didn't turn to face her, but took another sip of his own coffee.

"How was I suppose to know?" Yumi asked innocently, L knew she had known, but he said nothing. He knew that Yumi wouldn't have resorted to that if she hadn't really needed to talk to him.

Yumi stood up to avoid the four foot height difference that came from siting on the floor by his chair. "Stop ignoring me." she demanded though her voice was still calm, she didn't want to talk to him if he wasn't going to look at her.

He didn't turn away from the screens, so Yumi took a few steps to her right and stood in front of them, he was going to listen to her even if she had to pull a gun on him. Because if she didn't clear this up_ right now_, then she wouldn't be able to focus on anything else at all.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, he knew what she meant.

Now having little choice, L looked up at her, she was blocking most of the cameras in Raito's room.

"Answer me! Why did you–" she was cut off.

"It was something I needed to do." he answered, there was no emotion in his voice, so Yumi couldn't judge anything but the words themselves.

"What? What kind of answer is that?" she asked, if that was the real reason then she might have started shouting, but there were different things that answer could mean.

"Why did you need to do it, then?" she asked him, she didn't want to be kept in the dark about this.

L looked down at the floor for a few seconds, Yumi wondered why he seemed to find the question so difficult to answer.

"I needed to know..." he trailed off, that hadn't helped Yumi at all, know what?

But before she could voice this question, Yagami reentered the room, he still looked a bit green and Yumi hoped she hadn't done any permanent damage to his health.

"We'll finish this later." she told L and walked back to her room.

She hated that her first actual talk with L had made almost no progress at all. _...something I had to do_... how could someone so smart say something so stupid?

And then there was _I needed to know_... had he been experimenting on her? Was she only there to be used as another test subject?

Wait, that night he had asked her something, he had asked how she had known that lovers share information... was that what he had needed to know? But if that was all he was there for then why hadn't he just taken the answer and left?

_I'm glad_.

Those two words were giving her a headache, why would he be glad that all her romantic knowledge was based on a movie? It hadn't been a very good movie either, in her opinion all the girls in the romance movies were stupid and far too devoted to whoever had been assigned the male lead.

That was pathetic, and often the male lead just used the girl at first, just took her for granted, those girls should have the brains to live their own lives, and stop waiting for the guy to give them everything...

Yumi fell onto the bed and covered her head in the pillows. Those girls should have the strength to leave if they need to...

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**author's note: **ok, I won't be able to update tomorrow because I'm going out of town, but I will have more time when I get back. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	42. Chapter 42

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 42**

**Need**

Yumi was far too restless to sleep that night, so she lay on her bed and thought about how to repair the situation with L.

The fact that she and L had all but stopped speaking for three days bothered her immensely, but when she had finally confronted him about it, L had given her only a few cryptic answers.

So now she was laying in her bed at around three in the morning, thinking about all the possible meanings his few words could have.

_I needed to know_... those words were the easiest to figure out because he had asked her a question that night, then there was_ something I had to do.._. that was just stupid. Why would L have to throw her life into turmoil?

He had 'needed to know' how Yumi had known that lovers told each other everything, and he had gotten the answer.

Then he had told her that he was 'glad' that she had learned everything she knew about romance from a movie... why would that matter?

In truth, Yumi had already arrived at the answer, she was simply refusing to acknowledge it.

But now at three in the morning, she gave up on her denial. The reason L had asked how she had known was that if Yumi had known about relationships from movies then it showed him that she had never been in a relationship herself.

So in short, the question was an indirect way of asking her about her social life. Though why he would care Yumi had no idea.

It was around six am when Yumi decided it was acceptable for her to wake up and start walking around, so she climbed out of bed and crossed the room to the door that connected her bedroom to the main hotel room.

She went strait for the kitchen and made coffee, she ignored L on her way there, but brought him a cup as she sat down in Yagami's empty chair.

It had now been four days since the Yagami surveillance had started and no new evidence had turned up, that was a good sign but Raito wasn't cleared and there were still three more days of surveillance left.

L sipped his coffee in silence and Yumi did the same, neither of then looked at the other until half of the coffee had been consumed.

"I'm sorry." L said, it wasn't dramatic or even emphasized, but it was _L_ who had apologized first. Even if he didn't make a big deal about it. He didn't even look at her, just sipped more of his coffee.

Yumi wasn't sure how to react.

"Um... it's ok, just please... stop ignoring me..." she asked, and as if to answer her, L turned his head to look over at her.

He seemed completely calm, and if he hadn't always been like that, then Yumi would have taken his apology as a lie, but he said everything in the same monotone voice, so she could tell it was genuine.

L didn't smile– he had never been the smiling type– but the thought had obviously crossed his mind, Yumi couldn't help but smile at him, though the sudden shift from ignoring her to staring at her unblinkingly was a tad unnerving.

Yumi sipped her coffee, "so, found anything?" she asked, now that communication had been restored, she felt it was a good idea to discuss the case a bit.

"No, nothing at all, in fact, I think the surveillance is becoming pointless, Kira isn't going to make a mistake on camera." he sighed, Yumi perked up, but she was careful not to show it.

"Well, what are you going to do then?" she asked, she wanted so badly to tell him exactly what needed to be done, but she knew it was a bad idea to show how much she had known the whole time.

"I'm not sure..." he said, and Yumi began to wonder why he seemed suddenly different.

"Well, you'll figure it out, I'm sure of it." she tried to encourage him while lying about the case, it was hard to do.

They went back to watching the screens.

"Just... promise me," she began. "Promise me you wont do anything stupid, ok?" she asked, even though she knew 'stupid' wasn't something L did on a regular basis anyway, so the request was more of a way to let him know that she was worried about him.

He looked at her, but didn't answer, though she could tell he would take care of himself, just so she would have one less reason to complain.

Later that day, the task force assembled in the room, they were tired and disheveled from days without sleep, but they all seemed ready to listen to whatever L said.

"I've studied the tapes we got from the bugs and cameras over the past five days... numerous times." L began to say, as the task force braced themselves for the suspect list.

"And my conclusion is..." everyone looked at him, focusing hard on every syllable he uttered, so as not to miss any important information.

"That of the people in the Kitamura and Yagami families, suspicious activity was observed in..." the task force members held there breath as the suspense built up.

"Nobody." L finished flatly. The task force exhaled all at once. "We will remove the bugs and cameras." he said.

"_Hfff_... so no suspect, after all..."Matsuda said.

"I thought we were on track with Raye Penber's targets..." Ukita stated.

"Well none of them were on the Yamanote line videos..." Aizawa pointed out.

"Don't give up!! All right, so we're back at square one. We'll just have to put our minds to starting over." Yagami said, he looked relieved to learn his family had been cleared.

"Please don't misunderstand me. I only said 'no suspicious activity was observed.'" L cut in, while calmly eating a chocolate, Yumi reached for the box on the table, she had been expecting something like this to happen.

Once L had found a lead, even if it turned out to be nothing, he would follow it until the end, and to be honest many of the cases he had solved had only been solved because he refused to give up on what would seem to be a dead lead.

"Eh?!" Yagami exclaimed, he seemed suddenly less calm.

"Even if one of them is Kira, they simply aren't making any mistakes." L explained, "they're putting criminals to death as always, without showing us how."

"... so your saying one of them might be Kira, after all?" Yagami asked, he was worried about his family.

"...as I said..." L answered, stirring his coffee, Yumi ate one of the candies on the table as she listened, "there's a five percent probability." he said.

Yumi was now ninety percent sure, that his percentage was fake.

"But if we can't catch them on camera, then we'll have to call each of them in for questioning..." Matsuda thought out loud.

"If one of them really is Kira, they'll murder whoever's questioning them." Aizawa pointed out.

"So we do it the way L– I mean Ryuzaki– did it, without showing our faces." Matsuda suggested.

L– Ryuzaki– stirred his coffee in thought.

"No, even if we do it like that, it's too dangerous to let them know we suspect them of being Kira." Aizawa told him.

"That's true. First we need to prepare some hard evidence. We only question them when we're ready." Yagami agreed.

L sat in silent though for several minutes, Yumi watched him as he stared into his coffee cup, she wondered what he could be thinking...

Finally after almost five minutes of thoughtful silence, L spoke.

"Yumi, when can You and Watari remove the cameras and bus?" he asked, Yumi was a bit surprised that he didn't ask Watari himself.

"Um, well as soon as both houses are empty, we should be able to get them out." she answered.

"Then please do so." L requested, and Yumi nodded.

Later that day Yumi and Watari removed the cameras and bugs from both houses. Yumi removed the cameras in Raito's room first, this time she sprung his traps because the cameras would have caught her if she had opened the door in a way that would show her knowledge of his precautions.

After the cameras and bugs had been removed, the two of them returned to the hotel rooms, and Yumi was half surprised half annoyed at what she found there.

First the monitors in the Yagami house had been left on, though now they only displayed static, Yumi could only think of one reason for this and that was that L had been using the monitors to spy on _her_ as _she removed_ the cameras.

Though her thoughts didn't go past that point because she had by then realized that L wasn't in the room.

"Ryuzaki?" she called, though she knew it would do little good.

There was no answer, so she walked over to the bedroom that L used, though _used_ may have been the wrong word, because the bed had never even been touched.

She opened the door a crack and looked inside, "Ryuzaki?" she asked, he wasn't there.

Frustrated by his sudden disappearance, Yumi walked back into the main room and turned off the monitors before sitting down on the chair that L had used during the surveillance.

But she only had another few seconds to wonder where he had gone, because about a minute later the hotel room door opened, Yumi turned to see L walking into the room.

"Where were you?!" her concern was unnecessary, but she couldn't help herself.

"I went out." he answered calmly, but she knew better.

"What? You never go 'out' now where were– wait what are those?" she suddenly lost track of her question as she noticed an envelope full of papers under his arm.

L didn't bother saying 'nothing', or making up and excuse, he wouldn't have had time anyway because Yumi was already wrestling the papers from his hands.

She won out in the end, but perhaps he had wanted her to know anyway, and opened the envelope, inside were several application forms, Yumi raised an eyebrow at L.

"What are you doing?" she asked, she was calm now.

He didn't answer, so she looked through forms to figure out for herself.

!!

"To-oh? A university? Ryuzaki are you serious?" she had handed him the papers back, there was no real reason for the world's greatest detective to go to a collage at the age of twenty-four, or at least none that Yumi could think of.

"Yes." he said, his lack of desire for discussion irritated Yumi to no end.

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask, but before the last words had left her mouth she had remembered the answer. "Wait, isn't that the collage Raito Yagami is applying to?"

"Is it?" he asked, Yumi felt like hitting him, couldn't he _ever _give her a strait answer?

"It is." she told him, though he already knew.

"Well, if you applying, then so am I." Yumi stated, she knew that this was against the 'don't do anything stupid' promise that he had made early that morning.

"I know." he said handing her back the envelope.

Did he?

Yumi opened the envelope and looked through the papers again, that time she noticed it, she noticed that he had gotten two copies of everything.

But, there was a problem. "Uh, Ryuzaki... what... what does this say?" she asked him pointing to the heading on one of the flyers. All of the paperwork was in Japanese, and Yumi could only read English, fluently.

L noticed the problem at that point, he wasn't stupid to assume she had learned the language in the two years she had lived in Japan, but she had only committed a few vital words and phrases to memory.

However describing the problem like that makes it sound worse then it actually was, Yumi's problem was not with the language itself, it was more the speed at which she could read things.

She had learned the Japanese alphabet in the two years there, but she was only fluent in speaking the words, it could take her a while to read anything, though if she had the time, then she could read and understand everything.

So that made the main problem wether or not the test was timed.

Of course L did his best to help her, but they only had five days until the exams started, they filled out all the forms and Yumi used that as a chance to improve her hand writing but after the forms had been submitted Yumi had to practice writing and reading using books and magazines.

She did improve, but not enough to calm her down, of course failing the test wouldn't mean much other then she would have to wait in the hotel for L to come back and then ask him questions about his day at school, and he may not tell her everything that he knew.

Still failing made her nervous and she worked even harder to make sure that L wasn't alone when he went after Kira at a university.

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**author's note: **there is something I have to point out, and that something is that Yumi is afraid of starting a relationship with L because after the Kira case is over, there is a chance that she would leave him to continue her search for death notes, and also I admit that her reasoning behind not letting L catch Kira is flawed, but in my opinion she partly doesn't want L to find the death note because then he could learn that she had known all along that it was the weapon being used, then he could get angry with her for withholding information, or maybe she's afraid that he would think of her as a freak for being involved with shinigami. But who knows? Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	43. Chapter 43

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 43**

**One Up**

Five days after the applications had been sent in, the entrance exams were held at the university testing center.

Yumi and L road in the back of Watari's car, up until the front gate, then they walked into the large building, Yumi remembered thinking to herself that the room was the only school classroom she had ever been in, because she had been taught at Wammy's House.

They took their seats, and Yumi was rather annoyed by the fact that she was sitting in the center of the room while L was over to the side, but at around that time Raito arrived and sat a few rows in front of L.

Now Yumi could be glad about her placement, because her seat gave her a good view of both L and Raito, plus she was close enough to see that Raito hadn't made the eye deal since she had last seen him. Not that she had expected him to make the deal, but it was still a good thing to check on.

The test started, and her attention turned to her paper, she picked up the pencil and opened the booklet, her breath caught as she attempted to read the neat lines of Kanji on her test, but after a few minutes she began to relax, as the test got easier to read.

Yumi was almost certain that she was close to the last person done, but that didn't bother her at all because once she had gotten past the reading the questions had all been really easy.

The students filed out of the building and Yumi followed L to the car.

They road back to the hotel in silence, though that was only because Yumi was worried about the next day's testing.

They went through the next few days in a similar manor, driving to the exam hall in the day, then returning to the hotel after the test and drinking coffee and eating sugar through the night.

Then the day of the entrance ceremony arrived, it wouldn't have been anything special except for the fact that L had tied with another student for the highest score, Yumi didn't know who the other student was but she could make a decent guess, Yumi, herself, had only missed one question in the whole test, but that one question had been enough to stop the highest score from being a three way tie.

L had gotten every question in every subject correct, while Yumi had missed one question in math, Yumi hated math.

During the ceremony, when the two freshmen representatives were called to the stage, Yumi's suspicions were confirmed.

"Next, we have the freshmen address." said the rather old, slow looking man who had lead the ceremony until then.

"Our freshmen representative, Raito Yagami." he announced and Yumi winced at the fact that she hadn't noticed he was sitting one seat away from her. But then she realized that the one person in between her and Raito was L.

"And our other freshmen representative, Hideki Ryuga." he finished and walked away from the microphone, Yumi was fighting away the urge to laugh. Of course she and L had both used fake names to enroll, but Ryuga Hideki? Even L had to know who he was, and L, the detective, was a large jump away from Ryuga, the pop idol.

The two of them stood up and walked to the stage, Yumi could hear the mutters of the students over L's appearance, he had, after all, worn the same shirt and pants as every other day. And he had only slid his feet into a pair of old beaten tennis shoes without bothering to wear socks.

There was an obvious contrast between Raito and L so of course people in the crowd would talk about it.

After the speech, Raito bowed to the crowd and Yumi laughed as L missed the chance to bow as well, he simply stood there looking a bit awkward, though he didn't seem to mind.

Then the two of them began to walk off stage, Yumi watched them as they returned to their seats but as they got closer she noticed that L was saying something, he was speaking far too quietly for her to hear him, but whatever he had said caused Raito to glance over his shoulder.

Finally the two came close enough for Yumi to hear them, though she still had to strain her ears.

"... won't tell anybody. What is it?" Raito asked L, and Yumi wondered what L could have said before.

"I am L." he said, and Yumi almost fell out of her chair.

Wasn't that something stupid? Didn't he promise her he wouldn't do something stupid? Now Raito could make the eye deal, maybe even during the ceremony, and see his name! How could he do something so stupid?

Yumi dug her fingers into her jeans and closed her eyes, because of her focus on not running over to slap L for giving himself away she missed the rest of the conversation, but when L and Raito sat back down, Yumi gave L a hard elbow in the ribs, the force nearly knocked him over, but he righted himself and continued to watch the speaker as if she hadn't been there.

On the up side, Raito looked stressed, more so then ever before, and that meant that he knew what could happen if he tried to kill L.

Yumi began to wonder if he had noticed her, if he had it could possibly confirm that L really was L, or it could just get Yumi exposed for crossing between the two of them.

"_Hyuk hyuk_! If this guy is L, he's really something else." Ryuk commented, Yumi ignored him, but he must have noticed she was there by now.

The three– four counting Ryuk– spent the rest of the ceremony in silence, and after the last speaker, they left the hall.

Yumi could see Raito even through the crowd outside, but that was in part because Ryuk was a decent eight feet tall, but even though he couldn't see her, she was still intent on leaving as soon as possible.

When Watari arrived in the car, Yumi hastily climbed in the back and looked over at L who was yet to get in.

"What are you–" she tried to ask, but then she found out.

"Yagami-kun." he called, and to Yumi's great annoyance, Raito heard him and turned.

"It was nice meeting you..." L said, Yumi wanted to pull him into the car by force before Raito could see her.

"Yes. Nice meeting you, too..." Raito answered, though Yumi could guess he was less then thrilled.

"I'll see you around on campus, then." L said and finally got in the car.

"Oh, yeah. of course... bye." Raito said and the car door closed.

As the car began to drive, Yumi began to think over what had happened, and even after she had come to the conclusion that telling Raito that L was L was safer then letting him figure it out on his own she still hated L for not explaining his plan first, not that he would have, but it still upset her.

"Are you insane!?" she shouted once the car had gone about a mile from the school.

L looked at her but said nothing.

She forced herself to calm down, yelling at him would not help.

"You... you promised me, that you wouldn't do anything stupid, you said you would be careful, so why did you do that? He's a suspect! He could kill you now!" she was losing control of her voice again and took a few deep breaths to calm down.

L, at that point, could have pointed out that he had never promised her anything, because he hadn't actually answered her, though he didn't bother using this fact to destroy her argument, instead he listened to her calmly, he didn't seem to care all that much that she was angry with him.

"So? Answer me, why are you being so stupid?" she asked.

"I believe that Yagami-kun may be Kira." he said,_ believe? May be? _

Yumi wasn't wearing seat belt, in fact neither of them were, so at that moment she decided to take advantage of that fact by crawling from her side of the back seat over closer to L's, she crawled on her hands and knees over to him until she was almost inches away.

"You _promised._.." she said, L seemed confused by her sudden approach and attempted to back away, an effort which resulted in him banging his head on the window.

"If you had already planned to tell him, then why did you invite me to apply with you? Why would you purposely scare me like that?" She asked, she was subconsciously moving closer to him with every word.

"If I die now, then Yagami-kun is Kira." L said, and then it made sense, Yumi had no name, so Kira couldn't kill her and L had known that, so if Yagami was Kira then even if L died Yumi would still be alive to turn him in.

But Yumi wasn't the kind of person to accept something like that. "What? Are you planning to die? Don't do that to me!" she hadn't known why the last part had slipped out, but she wasn't taking much care to hide how frightened she was at the concept of him dying for this case.

"I'm sorry..." L tried, but Yumi had fallen for that before.

"No! Not this time! You could get yourself killed for this and you think that 'sorry' is enough?" she shouted now forgetting about her attempt to calm down.

L seemed lost for words and at first Yumi couldn't tell why, but then she noticed that she had leaned so close to him that she could touch the tip of his nose. She backed off.

"You want to apologize?" she asked, L seemed confused by her sudden calm, but Yumi had remembered something that she had wanted, and this situation was a good chance to get it.

"I–" she cut him off taking that as an automatic yes.

"Well then I'll forgive you on one condition." she said, she knew it wasn't a fair thing to do, but he couldn't mind too much.

"Can I have..." she started, L righted himself as she spoke, "a motorcycle?" she asked.

L seemed confused as though that was one of the last things she would ever ask for.

"A motorcycle?" he echoed.

"Yes, please?" she hoped he would agree, it wasn't like he couldn't afford it.

"Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes... well no, but I can learn! Come on if I had a motorcycle then I wouldn't have to take the trains anymore."

L sighed. Yumi took that as a yes.

"Oh! Thank you Ryuzaki!" she said, forgetting the personal space issue completely and throwing her arms around his neck to hug him, she was fairly sure he stopped breathing in shock, but at that moment the car went around a particularly hard turn and Yumi was thrown off balance, she fell forward onto him and by the time the car had stopped she had barely managed to pull herself from his lap.

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**author's note**: thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! I didn't get a chance to up date yesterday because I went out to diner for my fourteenth birthday. See you tomorrow!


	44. Chapter 44

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 44**

**Collision**

The three of them walked across the To-oh campus to the tennis courts, Yumi was to L's right and Raito was on L's left.

Yumi was only there to watch, but L and Raito were carrying tennis rackets and L was wearing a pair of new shoes, or at the very least, shoes that were in decent shape.

"Hey, Ryuga when you said you want to get to know each other playing tennis, did you know how good I am?" Raito asked, Yumi wasn't paying enough attention to care about his attempt at bragging.

"Don't worry Raito. I use to be the British junior champion." L answered, Yumi wondered if he remembered who he had beaten to win that title.

She couldn't help but finger her necklace, it was a habit she had gotten into in order to relieve stress, and of course being with L and Kira at the same time was extremely stressful.

L turned to her she smiled a bit to show him she was ok, then Raito began to speak again.

"So you grew up in England?" he asked.

"I lived in England for about five years." L answered, "but please relax. It's absolutely impossible to figure out L's identity from that fact."

Raito didn't look convinced of that, but he didn't say anything.

"So, just one set. Whoever wins six games first is the winner. All right with you?" L asked.

"Fine." Raito agreed, and Yumi walked over to the bench on the side of the court to watch the game.

She was hoping that Ryuk would come over to talk to her, but she couldn't be seen calling him over or talking to him so she waited for him to come over on his own.

L tossed the ball in the air and hit it hard across the net, Raito couldn't even react before it hit the fence.

"Fifteen-love." L said, and Yumi couldn't help but giggle at Raito's surprise.

"Hey, Ryuga you ever heard of warming up?" Raito asked.

"He who moves first always wins." L answered.

Ryuk decided to talk to Yumi, it was most likely a decision made after almost being killed by a tennis ball but Yumi was glad for the company whatever the reason.

"So, anything interesting happen lately?" Yumi asked to start a conversation, she had to keep her voice down, but Ryuk could hear her just fine.

"Yeah, humans are fun." he answered.

"That's good." Yumi smiled.

"So, your on Kira's side?" she asked, she had to make sure that Ryuk was a neutral.

"Nope, I'm just here to watch, I'm not on Kira's side or L's side." he answered.

"Good to know." Yumi told him, and it was, after being torn between the two sides herself it was nice to talk to someone who didn't care either way.

The tennis match went on much longer then Yumi had expected, but that was likely due to the fact that Raito was better then she had thought.

By the time the two of them were tied at four games they had a referee, a line judge, and a large crowd of people watching.

"Game count, four all." the referee shouted, and Ryuk laughed at the gathering crowd.

Yumi wondered how word had gotten out so fast.

The match continued for another couple minutes before Raito swung hard at the ball, it crashed into the fence with a loud clang.

"Set! Won by Raito Yagami, six games to four!!" the referee called to the crowd.

Yumi got off the bench and jogged over to L and Raito who were shaking hands over the net.

"... played for real in ages, Ryuga." Raito said and Yumi wished that she had heard the whole sentence.

The crowd shouted their disappointment at the game being over.

"I think we're both thirsty, and there's something I want to ask you, so... how about getting a drink somewhere?" Raito asked.

"Well, you just beat me, so... you can ask me anything you want." L answered.

"But there's something I ought to tell you first." He continued.

"What?" Raito asked.

"The truth is, Yagami-kun..." he began, "I suspect you may in fact be Kira."

"If you still want to ask me, knowing that... go right ahead." he finished.

"_Ha, ha!_ Me, Kira?" Raito asked.

Yes.

"Well, when I say "suspect," I'm actually talking about a factor of one percent." L told him. "What I'm really hoping for is to become a hundred percent certain that A) you aren't Kira. And B) you have brilliant powers of deduction, so that I can ask you to help us with the investigation."

"Anyway, there are too many people around to talk about the Kira case here. Lets go somewhere we can have some privacy." L suggested.

"Yeah, I think this tennis match has increased our notoriety around here." Raito agreed.

Yumi followed the two of them off the court, Raito led the way to a small coffee shop, it was out of the way and a great place to talk if you didn't want other people to listen.

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**author's note: **ok, that was short but I have to say that the amount of text in the coffee shop scene is frightening to me and I don't want to attempt it until tomorrow when I can make it a whole chapter, so thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	45. Chapter 45

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 45**

**Turn**

The coffee shop that the three of them entered was the perfect place to talk, it was quiet and the seats in the back were out of earshot from the rest of the room.

There were only two chairs at the table they chose so Yumi had to take one from another table, she and L sat facing Raito across the table and she wouldn't look away for more then a second.

"This is one of my favorite coffee shops." Raito said. "If you sit here in the back, nobody can hear what your talking about."

"You've picked the perfect place for this." L told him.

"Yeah. For one thing, back here nobody's going to be staring at you for sitting like that. _Ha ha._"

"True... I just can't sit any other way than this." L explained, "if I sit the way other people do, my reasoning ability drops by forty percent."

Yumi smiled a bit, last time he had explained his sitting position he hadn't had a percentage.

"So, Yagami-kun. What did you want to ask me?"

"That can wait until you're positive that I'm not Kira. So you go ahead and start, Ryuga." Raito said.

Yumi wondered if he was ever going to ask his question.

"...in that case..." L began, "I don't mean to be rude, but can I test your reasoning abilities?"

"Sure. Sounds like fun." Raito answered.

Yumi glanced at L, wondering what he was thinking for about the thousandth time since the case had started.

Raito drank some of his coffee.

"Does the fact that I told you I'm L tell you anything?"

"_Hmm_." Raito considered the question, "let's see... it indicates you have some hopes that I can help you solve this case... and... you've deduced that even if you tell someone who may be Kira that your L, you won't be killed... or that you've taken some steps to ensure that you can't be killed..." he explained.

"And that means, although news reports so far have said only that Kira needs to know what someone looks like to kill them, maybe he needs something else as well." he continued.

"In which case that "something else" would be their name." he decided, and Yumi realized he must be saying that to make himself appear smarter so that L would ask for his help with the case.

"I draw this conclusion from the fact that, while L would always use an alias anyway, you made a point in calling yourself Hideki Ryuga, someone whose name and face are known to practically everyone in Japan."

Yes, he was definitely trying to get into a position from which he could gain L's trust.

"Correct." L said.

"Your saying I'm right, just like that?" Raito asked.

"Why should I hide the fact that you're right?" L asked him in return.

"And the probability that you're really L is extremely low." Raito pointed out.

"Why's that?" L asked.

"If I was L, I would reason that it's enough to have another person approach someone I suspect may be Kira and tell him that they're L." Raito answered.

"The real L needs to stay someplace safe at all times." he explained, "even when he's using the police, he needs to do that from the shadows, out of view."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too, but..." Yumi mumbled to herself, though the room was quiet enough for the others to hear her, Raito looked over at her before turning back to L.

"I see... your right that anyone calling himself L puts himself in danger. And why would he come out into the open now, when he's never shown himself before... it would be stupid for the real L to do such a thing..." L said and Yumi was sure she had said that to him at one time or another.

"Still, I actually think you really might be L, Ryuga." Raito said.

"Meaning?" L asked.

Yumi had to suppress a laugh, after what L had just said, Raito could have just said he was stupid. Though she was probably the only one who had noticed this.

"Well, most people probably imagine L to be a lot older then you, or more detective like somehow." Raito told him. "You're too out of character to be a convincing fake. So you must be real..."

"And what are the odds that L took that into account in choosing me?" L asked. Was he trying to convince Raito that he was a fake L?

"_Hmm_, since it's L we're talking about, I guess there's a good chance of that." Raito agreed.

"When you start second guessing and third guessing like this, it's endless." Raito laughed, "I have to admit I'm getting pretty confused!"

Yumi doubted that.

"Since this is basically an interview to see if I can request your help in the investigation, I suppose it's rude not to show you anything at all." L said as he reached into his back pocket.

"This information has never been made public. I'd like you to look at it and tell me what you think." L requested. Handing four sheets of paper across the table.

"This is a list of the twelve FBI agents who were murdered by Kira, with the order in which they received the file and the order in which they died." L explained and Yumi noticed the gap in the explanation."And these three photographs show notes written by prisoners shortly before they died. We believe they wrote them under Kira's control."

"First please take a look at the FBI list. Does it tell you anything?" L asked.

"_Hmm_? Let's see..." Raito looked over the list of names.

"What's this file you said they received?" Raito asked, "if I don't know that, there's no way I can make sense of this."

Oh well, Yumi thought, it had been a good try...

"Oops... sorry. That's a file containing the names and photographs of all twelve agents, so they could each know who the others were. The day they received this file, they all died." L explained.

"In that case... okay, Kira needs to know what people look like, and maybe also their names... this file contained both names and photos..." Raito began."And the very same day the agents received this file, they all died... so there's a possibility that Kira used this file to kill them."

"All right. what about these notes?" L asked.

"These three notes are very interesting." liar.

"If it's true that Kira can kill people and also control their actions, that's pretty amazing." he said. "It looks to me like he could have "dictated" these notes, actually. Because they contain a hidden taunt to L."

"If you take the first word of every line they form a sentence, or rather, a question. Because the order that makes the most sense would be, let's see... "L do you know gods of death love apples?" he said.

"But... the backs of these photos have their print number on them... if you put them in that order– the message reads "L do you know love apples? Gods of death." that doesn't make much sense, so I find it hard to believe Kira wanted L to read it like that." he finished.

"Incorrect." L stated, "in fact there's a forth note." he said, though Yumi couldn't remember a forth note in the police files. "If you add this, you get the following message: "L do you know love apples? Gods of death have red hands."

"Okay, but if there were only three notes, my reasoning was flawless." Yagami argued.

"No it wasn't, because there were in fact four notes. Figuring _that_ out would have made your reasoning flawless." L said, now Yumi understood why he had forged a fourth note, and it had worked.

"I think I'm correct in deducing that you decided there were only three notes, Yagami-kun, and therefore could not infer there might be a fourth one." L finished.

"Gee... your right I didn't think of that." Yagami agreed, "but still, either way I don't think these notes will help you find Kira. I mean shinigami don't even exist." Raito pointed out.

Yumi gave no comment.

"All right. Now lets suppose you're L. If you came face to face with someone who might be Kira, how would you try to determine if he was?" L asked.

"I'd try to make them say things that haven't been reported on the news. Things only Kira could know. Just like you're doing now, Ryuga." Raito answered.

"Very good." L said. "I've already asked the same question to a number of detectives, and most of them took a few minutes to think about it. When they finally came up with an answer, it was usually something silly like, bring out a well known criminal and watch from a hidden location if they kill him or not"... but you, Yagami-kun, were instantly able to think about it from the perspective of Kira talking to an investigator."

"I have to say you're quite brilliant Yagami-kun." L said. Yumi sighed, she had always hated being ignored but being ignored in this situation was completely maddening.

"_Ha ha._.. you make it sound like if I do too well, I'm under even more suspicion." Raito told him.

"Indeed. Now it's up to three percent..." L stated, "however, this also increases my desire to have you help us in the investigation."

"To tell you the truth, you guessed correctly earlier. At present, I am not the only one going around calling himself L." that was a given... "my position is this– even if you _are_ Kira, I'd like you to help us with this investigation. Do you understand my logic?" L asked.

"If I help you, the investigation might move forward, at the same time, if I'm Kira I might slip up and betray myself... in other words, you can kill two birds with one stone... I think it's a great idea." Raito answered.

"_Hyuk, hyuk_! Hey Raito, looks to me like he's got you up against the wall... this isn't like you, buddy." Ryuk commented, Yumi smirked a bit but otherwise ignored him.

"I think you've got me all wrong, Ryuga" Raito stated, "while it's true I'm very interested in the Kira case, and even in helping to solve it... I'm not Kira, and I sure as hell don't want to get killed."

"I'm not going to help someone I can't even trust and end up getting murdered by Kira. I'd rather think about the case on my own. You can't prove to me that you aren't Kira, either. So you and I are in the same position, basically. Think about it from my perspective. Is it fair that you get to question me but I can't question you?" Raito asked.

"Anybody looks at us, all they see are two collage students. In fact, most people would probably say you're more likely to be Kira then me. Neither of us can prove we aren't Kira. But if your L, Ryuga, or even a stand-in for L, you ought to be able to prove that."

"I'm talking about having someone I can trust, for example someone from the task force, or my father, tell me strait out that you're L, or at the very least a part of the investigation. If you say you can't do that until I prove I'm not Kira, then I can't work with you on this case." he finished.

Yumi knew that she and L were probably thinking much the same thing, Raito Yagami talked a lot. Why couldn't the death note have been picked up by someone who didn't speak that much?

"I never once said I wouldn't let you meet with the members of the task force." L said, "I'm working directly with your father and the rest of the task force right now. Am I correct in understanding that if I take you to the task force, you'll help us in the investigation?"

Raito seemed surprised, he obviously hadn't thought that he would be allowed to meet the task force.

But before he could answer, L's cell phone rang.

"Excuse me." he said and answered the phone, he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line then, "what's the matter?" he asked.

At that minute Raito's phone went off as well. "Now it's mine..." he said and answered.

"Yagami- kun, your father..." L began.

"Had a heart attack..." Raito finished.

"What?" Yumi asked, why would Kira try to kill his own father?

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**author's note: **ok, the amount of text in that chapter frightened me, but I finished it, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	46. Chapter 46

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 46**

** Get Well Soon**

The five of them sat in a small hospital room, Yumi stood in the back of the room because Raito's mother Sachiko Yagami was sitting in one of the three chairs that fit in the room, Raito and L were occupying the other two and Yagami-san was on the bed.

"Are you really sure this was just caused by overwork...?" Raito asked, though the fact that Yagami-san was still alive was proof that Kira wasn't to blame.

"Raito! What are you saying?" Sachiko asked, she was the most worried about the near death of her husband.

"Mom, he had a heart attack. Who wouldn't make the connection? I mean, that's the way every single one of Kira's victims died..."

"To be honest, that's exactly what crossed my mind as I was going down." Yagami-san said, that only increased the worry on his wife's face.

"You head the task force in charge of this case... Kira has more then enough reason to want you dead." L said, Yumi wasn't sure what Sachiko thought of her and L, the most likely theory for their presence in the hospital was that they were friends of Raito's who had come with him, "a murder attempt by Kira, hmm... we can't rule it out completely..."

"No, I think we can, if Kira had been trying to kill him he would probably be dead and while he was at it, Kira would have killed the whole task force." Yumi pointed out.

She wasn't sure if Sachiko looked better or worse after hearing this logic.

"Sachiko. Raito's here now, and anyway, I'm all right. You go on home." Yagami-san said to her, "and not a word about this to Sayu. I don't want to upset her."

Sachiko gathered up a bag that she had brought with her and stood up. "All right, then. I'll be back tomorrow with some more of your things." she said, "thanks for coming Raito."

"Sure." Raito answered as she left the room.

"I don't think it was Kira..." Yagami-san said once his wife was out of the room. "Well, now that I think about it...being under all this pressure and the fear of being killed by Kira... I haven't had a good night's sleep in months. I was asking for it."

"Having your own son under suspicion must be an emotional strain as well." L mentioned.

"You told my father I'm under suspicion?" Raito asked, Yumi was fairly certain that Yagami-san's knowledge of that was a problem.

"Yes." L said simply, "I've told your father everything, including the fact that I'm L."

Raito turned to his father for confirmation, he seemed nervous about wether or not he really knew.

"That's right. This is L." Yagami-san confirmed, "we've been calling him "Ryuzaki" so that nobody finds out, but... this is definitely L."

Raito glanced at L who didn't seem to notice.

"So, Ryuzaki... has talking to my son cleared away your suspicions?" Yagami-san asked.

"No. To be honest, all his comments regarding the Kira case were just too on-the-ball. It's made me suspect him even more." L answered.

"Hey, saying that to me is one thing, but don't say anything in front of my dad that will upset his condition. Try to have a little consideration, Ryuga." Raito said.

"It's all right, Raito. An ambiguous answer wouldn't make me feel any better. I much prefer hearing the truth." Yagami-san said, "and even though your under suspicion, I understand it's not enough to make you an actual suspect."

"That's correct. You seem to misunderstand me a little, Yagami-kun." L stated, "as I told you earlier, when I say "suspicion" I'm talking about a very slight possibility. Let me explain again."

"Kira murdered the twelve FBI agents who entered Japan. This is clear from the fact that all of them died of heart attacks on December 27th, the very same day they received that file."

"It is also a fact that Kira had access to task force information. I don't know how, though it does seem the fire walls on the task force computers were not very secure..." Yumi flinched.

"Regardless, there's a very good possibility that Kira was able to access data from a task force member's computer. However, even though Kira murdered the FBI agents, he has not killed a single Japanese investigator."

"This also can lead us to infer that Kira is related to someone on the task force. Well, I suppose Kira might be capable of murdering a member of his own family..."

"... I see..." Raito muttered.

"Then there's one of the FBI agents, Raye Penber. Some of his actions were curious, and quite noteworthy. And now even his fiancee, who was in Japan with him and a former FBI agent herself, has gone missing." L finished.

"So that's how you narrowed it down to the Kitamuras and us..." Raito said.

"Yes." L answered.

"My view so far has been that since Kira was operating in the Kanto region, he must be Japanese, and that he couldn't bring himself to kill innocent Japanese for that reason. But if those FBI agents were shadowing NPA personnel and their families, your right there's a good possibility that Kira was among those they were probing." Raito suggested.

"And I happened to be among those they were probing, too. So I can't fault you for placing me under suspicion. In fact, you're absolutely right. There are no other likely suspects..."

"Your powers of deduction are outstanding, Yagami-kun." L said, "your always precise, and very fast."

"I'll help you with this investigation, Ryuga. Because now my father has corroborated that you're who you said you were." Raito told him. "And I'll prove to you that I'm not Kira, because I'm going to catch Kira for you."

"Raito, you just concentrate on studying right now. You'll have plenty of time for catching criminals after you join the NPA." Yagami-san cut in.

"What're you talking about, Dad? That's still years and years from now. And anyway, remember my promise?" Raito asked. "I swore that if anything happened to you, I'd make sure Kira got the death penalty. I meant that."

"Kira is responsible for what happened to you. If there's a chance that my input can help the investigation move forward, then I'll help out." he finished.

"Yagami-kun."

"Hmm?"

What kind of person do you think Kira is? What's your image of him?" L asked.

"My image of Kira... I think Kira is..." Raito thought for a few seconds, "an affluent child."

"An affluent child...? ... I like it. Go on..." L encouraged.

"If, as assumed, he can kill people just by willing it... if a human being had that kind of power... using it to get rid of criminals, and at the same time making it an example for others to make the world a better place, is something only a child would think of doing. I'd say he's anywhere from a fifth grader to a highschool student... if it was anyone younger then that, they'd either be too scared by that power to use it, or they'd use it to kill people they knew, people they didn't like..."

"And if it was anyone older then that, an adult, they'd only use it for their own personal gain. You could think of tons of ways to use that power and become really rich. Kira still has some purity about him. He's an affluent child, who already has everything he needs. I'd say he's a junior high student who already has his own cell phone, computer and tv." he finished.

"...so, according to your profile, Yagami-kun... the most suspicious of our present targets would be... your sister, Sayu." L told them.

Raito stood up quickly, his chair scraping the floor as he moved. "What is the matter with you?!" he shouted to L, "Did you come here to wish my father well, of finish him off?!"

"I was only drawing the obvious conclusion from your own speculations, Yagami-kun." L pointed out.

"Stop it, both of you. Nothing you say is going to faze me at this stage in the game. But if your fighting, take it outside." Yagami-san told them. "This might just sound like a fond father talking, but I'm absolutely certain that Sayu is not Kira. If anything, she's the type who'd kill someone she didn't like, and then cry her head off about it..."

"You're right..." L agreed.

"Notice he didn't say "Raito isn't Kira," _hyuk hyuk_." Ryuk said to anyone who was listening, Yumi noticed his point.

"Kira is evil... there's no denying that..." Yagami-san began, "but lately I've been starting to think of it more like this..."

"The real evil is the power to kill people." he stated. "Someone who finds himself with that power is cursed. No matter how you use it, anything obtained by killing people can never bring true happiness."

"You're absolutely right, Yagami-san. If Kira is an ordinary human being who somehow gained this power, he is a very unfortunate person." L decided.

"Ryuzaki, I'm sorry about collapsing like this, but I'll be back at work as soon as I can." Yagami-san promised.

"What're you talking about, Dad? You need to rest until your fully recovered." Raito objected.

"He's right, Yagami-san." L agreed.

"Yeah, you're only here in the first place because you over worked yourself." Yumi chimed in.

"No, I'm not sitting here twiddling my thumbs with Kira on the loose. I'm going to get him if it's the last thing I do..." Yagami-san insisted.

Then there was a knock at the door which distracted the group.

"Visiting hours are over," a nurse said, "you'll have to go now."

"Ryuga." Raito started as they reached the front drive, Watari waited with the car.

"What can I do to make you believe I'm mot Kira? Isn't there some way to make you trust me?" he asked.

"If you aren't Kira, Yagami-kun, you don't have to do anything at all, do you?" L answered.

"Stop yanking me around, Ryuga. Think about what if feels like to be suspected of being Kira." Raito argued.

L thought for a moment, Yumi wondered what he had to compare it to.

"That feels terrible..." L said.

"See? So how about locking me up for a month somewhere with no tv or anything, and watching me the whole time? Something like that.." Raito suggested.

"I can't do that. it would violate your rights to privacy and freedom of movement... and anyway, it's nonsense to accept such a proposal from the person under suspicion." L told him.

"You've got a point." Raito admitted.

"It's all right. if you aren't Kira it will become apparent eventually. Plus, watching you with your father today, I thought you might not be Kira." L said as he climbed into the car next to Yumi.

"Well, then. Take good care of your father." L said.

"Oh! One more thing." Raito recalled, "I said I'd help with the investigation, but I don't think I'll have the time until my father gets a little better."

"I know that." L told him, "bye."

The car began to move, L was silent the whole trip, he must have been thinking hard about the case.

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**author's note: **I didn't get to post yesterday because of a school thing, so sorry. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	47. Chapter 47

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 47**

**Duel**

"As for Naomi Misora..." Ukita continued, the task force sat in the hotel room listening, "the only lead we have is the hotel employee's statement that she hasn't been back since late night on December 27th..."

"Isn't it about time that we started an official search? There's a limit to how much we can find out with just a couple people asking around." he asked.

"If we go public saying her disappearance is related to the Kira case, there's a chance Kira would kill her if she's still alive. So if we open an official investigation, we should keep quiet about the Kira angle and release only sketches of her, not photos." L told him.

"Man... this is really hard. If we don't tie it to the Kira case, people won't be interested. But if we do, people will be interested all right, but they won't get involved because they're afraid of Kira." Ukita complained.

"She's been missing for four whole months now... she can't be alive..." Aizawa mentioned.

"Dead women tell no tale...? in which case there's no point even searching for her..." Matsuda sighed.

"Even if she's dead, someone might've talked to her and heard something." L said, "and it's odd that her body's never turned up. If it did, we might be able to find another lead there."

"But if someone heard something from her, you'd think they'd have come forward long ago." Ukita complained.

"No, not necessarily, they could be afraid of Kira if what they had heard was important. Not everyone is willing to risk their– Watari?" Yumi pointed out but lost her train of thought as Watari entered the room.

"Ryuzaki!" Watari called as he crossed the room to the tv set.

"What is it?" L asked him.

"Sakura tv, quick... you have to see this." Watari answered as he turned the tv on.

"_In other words, we are being held hostage by Kira and have no choice but to air these videos. At the same time, we feel that doing so is our professional duty._" the anchor said. "_I would like to emphasize once again that these tapes are not being broadcast as a hoax or for the purposes of sensationalism." _

"Held hostage by Kira? What's going on here?" the task force members shouted.

"_Four days ago, an envelope containing four videotapes arrived at this station, addressed to one of our directors. It was, without a shadow of a doubt, sent by Kira._" the man continued. "_The first tape announced the date and time of death for seiichi and seiji machiba, who were arrested the other day._"

"_Exactly as predicted, these two men died yesterday at seven pm of heart attacks. Who besides Kira is capable of carrying out something like this? From this fact, we have concluded that the sender of these videos was none other then Kira._" he announced.

Yumi didn't understand what was happening, first: it was far too obvious that these videos were not sent by Raito, and second: the men on the tapes had apparently died because of a death note. So the most likely explanation was that another death note had fallen into human hands.

That seemed likely and it wasn't very difficult for that to happen which left the problem of detection. Every time a death note is loose in the human world without an owner, the aura can be felt from Japan to the United States, so for Yumi to have not felt the aura at all the notebook must have fallen much farther away then the last notebook had.

But, because the notebook had most likely fallen in America, the owner must have come to Japan after they had gained ownership, which meant that whoever had picked it up didn't really want Kira's work to be finished faster, they only wanted to meet Kira, or they would have started punishing criminals in another country, divide and conquer...

So if this person wanted to meet Kira that badly, then they would most likely do whatever the real Kira said, and Raito would take advantage of that. But what was really bad was that this Kira didn't seem very smart, and if even a smart person could do stupid things when pushed too far, then a stupid person would have already...

"_The envelope we received contained instructions from Kira telling us to air this, the second video, at exactly 5:59 pm today._" the anchor said as the camera zoomed in on the video tape in his hands. "_We have not viewed this video ourselves, but Kira's instructions state that it foretells yet another death and contains a message to people all over the world._"

A woman took the tape from the man's hands and walked off screen.

"This has got to be another on of their' fake stories, right...?" Ukita asked.

"No way... not even Sakura would go this far..." Matsuda answered.

"_the time is 5:59 pm. You are now going to see Kira's video._" the anchor finished.

The screen changed to a white back ground with the word KIRA hand written in black ink across the center, it was the same gothic font that L always used, but in order to know that was the font, this Kira would have needed to be in the Kanto region of Japan five days after the Kira killings started, and they would have had to of seen the broadcast that L had used to first challenge Kira. Of course it could have been a coincidence...

"_I am Kira._" a deep fake voice said, the sound quality was quite poor. "_If this video is aired at exactly 5:59 pm on April 18__th__... it is now 5:59 and 38, 39, 40 seconds..._"

"_Please switch channels to Taiyo tv. The news anchor, Mr. Kazuhiko Hibima, will die at precisely six pm._" the Kira voice said.

"What the..."

"no way..."

"Change the channel!" L ordered.

A man lay face down on the desk between two frightened people who were calling over crew members to help with the body.

"Switch back to Sakura!" L told them. "Watari, bring another tv set here... no, two tv sets."

"_Mr. Hibima has consistently referred to Kira as "evil" in his news reports. This was his punishment._" the Kira voice explained. "_But one demonstration alone does not serve as absolute proof. I will present you with another. My next target is a commentator who has also condemned me repeatedly. He is scheduled to be appearing live on the air at this time..._"

"Ryuzaki..."

"Go to channel 24!" L said.

Several people were gathered around a man's limp body.

"...they said Kira would be sending a message to people all over the world..." L began. "We have to make them stop this broadcast or something terrible is going to happen!"

"I'll get Sakura tv's phone number!" Matsuda shouted as he grabbed the phone.

"_I trust you now believe that I really am Kira._" The voice said.

"It's hopeless... every single number I've tried in the entire station's busy..." Matsuda said.

"My friend who works there has his cell phone off!" Aizawa called out.

"Humph... Dammit! Then I'm going over there to make then stop it myself!" Ukita called as he ran to the door.

"Ukita!" Matsuda shouted after him.

No! "Ukita-san, Stop!" Yumi leapt over the back of the couch in an effort to catch him, but the door had already closed behind him.

"_Please listen to me carefully. I do not want to kill innocent people._" the Kira tape continued. "_I hate evil and love justice. I do not consider the police my enemies, but my allies in my fight against evil_."

L bit his thumb.

"We have to stop Ukita! Does anyone have his cell phone number?!" Yumi asked.

"Here!" Aizawa shouted as he tossed her his phone, she put it to her ear as it rang.

"_My aim is to rid the world of evil and create a just society. If all of you will join me in this mission, It can be easily accomplished_."

"Come on pick up!" _ring, ring_

"_If you do not try to capture me, no innocent people will die._"

"_And even if you do not agree with me, if you refrain from publicizing your views in the media or public, you will be spared. And then simply wait. In a short time, the world will be changed for the better, I'm sure you will all agree._"

The phone went to voice mail.

"He's not answering!" Yumi shouted.

"_I can do it. I can change the world and make it a place inhabited only by good, kind hearted people._"

Ukita pulled up in front of the tv station, a news team was covering the front entrance on one of the tv's that Watari had brought in but no one other then Yumi had noticed him arrive yet.

"Dammit!" Yumi shouted, gripping the back of the couch hard as the red aura surrounded Ukita.

Shinigami eyes.

The red Ukita ran up to the front entrance to the station and pounded on the door, an second later he pulled out a gun and aimed to shoot the glass door, but the aura intensified, then went out as he collapsed in front of the building.

"_Just imagine it– a world protected by the police and myself... a world with no place for evil–_"

"_We urge all our viewers to please stay calm. Concerning the broadcast currently being aired on Sakura tv, details will be reported as soon as they are available..._"

"_We are canceling our scheduled program to broadcast live from in front of Sakura Tv._"

"_This just in! Someone is reported to have collapsed in front of Sakura Tv!_"

"_We are reporting live from in front of Sakura Tv. For safety reasons I can not stand in front of the camera, but what you are seeing here is live coverage!_"

"Ukita!!" Aizawa shouted as he ran over to the tv. "Oh my... god! Kira got him?!"

He turned around and began to head for the door, Yumi cut him off ready to bodily block the only way out of the hotel room.

"Forget it, Aizawa-san. Where do you think you're going?" L asked, Yumi pressed herself against the door, she wasn't going to let him out.

"To Ukita, where else? And I'm going to get those damn video tapes and bring them back here." Aizawa said.

"If you go over there now, you'll only get killed." L told him.

"You trying to tell me to sit here and watch television, Ryuzaki?!" Aizawa shouted back.

"I'm trying to tell you to calm down and be realistic." L answered. "I want to stop that video as much as you do. And if we manage to confiscate the entire package, the way it was sent, there's a good chance we can track Kira down."

"But if Ukita was murdered by Kira, whoever goes there now will end up dead, too."

The different tv stations continued to broadcast through the Kira tape's speech.

"This means his phony police ID didn't help him!!" Aizawa shouted over the tv noise. "Kira knows our real names. Has to. There's no other explanation!"

"That might be true. But if you're right, it would make much more sense for Kira to murder everyone on the task force... I deduced that Kira needs to know someone's name and face to kill them, but seeing this, I have to conclude that seeing their face alone could be enough... all I can say for sure is this..."

"Ukita-san was killed because he went over there. It happened before the other networks started reporting from in front of Sakura tv. And that means Kira is either inside Sakura, or someplace where he can see people entering Sakura. That, or he set up a surveillance camera there in advance." L said.

"Well if Kira's around there right now, that's all the more reason for us to go!!" Aizawa argued.

"I'll say it again– if you go there now, you will be killed. Please understand." L told him.

"No, I don't understand..." Aizawa wasn't shouting, but he was still furious. "Ukita might've been murdered!! By Kira!! I thought we were risking our lives to arrest that bastard!!"

"Risking your life and doing something that could easily rob you of your life are exact opposites." L said, "I understand your feeling, but please try to control yourself right now. Ukita-san is dead... if you go over there and lose your life too Aizawa-san..."

L was gripping his knees so tightly he was shaking, Yumi took a step away from the door, she wished she could do something to help her friend.

Aizawa backed away from him.

"_It is eerily quiet in front of Sakura Tv._" the news reporter said through one of the tv's.

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**author's note: **ok, I'm late so I cut that chapter short, sorry. Also, writing in third person has become unbearably annoying, is it to late to switch to Yumi' pov? Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	48. Chapter 48

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 48**

**Crash**

"A-a bus?!" Yumi shouted as the front entrance to the station shattered on screen.

The attention of the task force was completely centered on the tv, a large police van with tinted windows had driven through the front entrance to the Sakura Tv station.

"_Are the police ready to work with me in creating a just world? Their answer to this question will be broadcast in three days' time, on April 22__nd__, at the top of the six o'clock nightly news._" the Kira video continued. "_Starting at 6:10 pm on April 22__nd__, Sakura Tv will air one of two videos– one if the police say "yes" to my proposal and the other if the police say "no."_ _If it's an official police announcement, no spokesperson has to appear on the screen._"

"_We will report any new information as soon as..._"

"_Oh my god! An armored van has crashed into the lobby of Sakura TV!!_"

"_It appears to be a police vehicle! The armored van belongs to the police!_"

"What.. The hell?!" the task force cried.

"Well... that's certainly one way of entering without anyone seeing your face." L said. "But if Kira got Ukita-san, there's a good chance he's inside. If he's anywhere inside the lobby, this could be really risky..."

"But who the hell is it? Someone on our side?" Matsuda asked.

"Well... it is a police vehicle." Aizawa answered.

"So, what now?" Yumi asked after a minute or two had passed since the crash.

"_The police have made no statement regarding this incident as of yet..._"

"_What's this? A police car has finally arrived on the scene. It's just a single patrol car, but finally, the police are on the scene!_"

The shinigami eyes... Ukita... close by... "this could be bad..." Yumi realized but no one heard her.

"We aren't alone in this... there are other cops who're ready to stand up and fight Kira..." Matsuda said.

"Yes, so it seems. When you think about it, the people who were on the task force were just one small section of the Japanese police..."

"Aizawa-san, you know deputy chief Kitamura's cell phone number, don't you?"L asked.

"Uh, yeah." Aizawa answered.

"Call him. If he picks up please hand the phone over to me." L ordered.

Aizawa dialed.

"_But just one patrol car in a situation like this...?_"

"Here." Aizawa said as he handed the phone to L.

"This is L." he said almost immediately after grabbing the phone. "I have a request. There will be more officers driven to act on their own after seeing this broadcast. Unless strictly coordinated action is taken, we'll have a major tragedy on our hands."

Kitamura said something that Yumi couldn't hear from her place by the door, so she moved over to stand by L's chair.

"_Oh no! The two officers who stepped out of the police car have collapsed! I... we are moving to a safer location. We will be leaving the camera here on the scene, and will continue our report from farther away..._"

"This is not good." Yumi muttered to herself.

L began to explain his plan, even from two feet away from the phone, Yumi couldn't hear what the deputy chief said.

"Yes... that's right. They should never show their faces..." L said.

Watari's cell phone rang and he read the number. "It's Yagami-san." he said.

"What? The boss?" Aizawa asked.

"Yes. Thank you Kitamura-san... no, wait. Please stay on the line." L said into Aizawa's cell phone before turning to Watari. "Watari. Call him back right away, and hand me the phone."

Watari dialed, then handed the phone to L.

"Yagami-san, it's me. So it was you in that armored van." L said, it wasn't a question. "But what about your condition?"

"Hold on for a moment." L instructed after he was answered. "Deputy chief, the one in the armored van was Yagami-san." he said into the other cell phone. "Yagami-san, rest there for five minutes and then head out the front." he ordered switching phones again.

"What are you going to do?" Yumi asked as he handed the two phones back to their owners.

L ignored her and took out his own cell phone...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Yagami-san walked out the front entrance after five minutes of sitting in a hallway, he was half expecting to be killed by Kira but as he walked into the front lobby, past the police van, and out the front, he saw a wall of police.

Everyone was covering their faces with masks and shields, there were also several vans surrounding the entrance and the gaps between the parked vans were covered with blankets.

"_All right, stay close together! Do not open the smallest gap! Do not show yourselves! Kira is not inside the building! If he's here, he's outside!_" called a man with a megaphone who was hidden among the police.

In the center of the circle was a white, unmarked police car and a man. The man was Ide-san who had quite the force to avoid working with L.

"Thanks you..." Yagami-san said to Ide-san as he opened the car door. "But I'd like to be alone in that car, if you don't mind."

"Yes, Sir. Please drive carefully, Sir." Ide-san said stepping away from the car.

"Chief!" Matsuda cried as Yagami-san entered the hotel room, supported by Watari.

"Chief, Sir..." Aizawa began but he must not have had anything to say.

"I'm sorry about taking things into my own hands like that, Ryuzaki... I let my emotions get the better of me..." Yagami-san apologized.

"That's fine." L told him.

"The video tapes, the envelope they came in, it's all in here." Yagami-san said as he handed a 'Sakura Tv' bag to L. "Let me lie down for a while..."

"Are you all right, chief...? maybe you ought to get back to the hospital..." Matsuda said as he helped Yagami-san lie down on the couch.

Matsuda-san's cell phone rang and he answered it. "Yes... yes..." he said. "Mr. Yagami is here with us. He's resting now, but he's all right. Yes, he's fine."

"Aizawa-san. Could you take this over to forensics?" L asked.

"Sure. I know a lot of the people down there. I'm sure they'll do a great job." Aizawa answered. "Fingerprints for sure, if there are any, and if the stamps have been licked, they'll get DNA from there... they'll find out where this envelope and the tapes were sold, and even what modal of camera was used. They might even be able to get other information from the images... Of course, I'll make them study the tapes without sound so they don't hear what's said."

"Great thank you. While you're doing that, I'll watch these copies to find out what's in them." L said.

Yumi sat down on the floor by L's chair, she wasn't leaving the room until she saw the tapes too.

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**author's note: **ok, that was shorter than I thought it would be but oh well. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Oh, and the third person thing is really hard... is it too late to switch to first?


	49. Chapter 49

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 49**

**Swap**

**Ok, writing in third person has become unbearably difficult, so I'm switching to Yumi's pov.**

I am going to make this abundantly clear: I do not have a short attention span, however watching the fake Kira's videos was so boring that I had to move positions every few seconds to keep myself awake.

By the time the fourth video had finished, I had moved from the couch, to the floor by L's chair, to the floor right in front of the tv, and finally come to a stop on the armrest of L's chair.

After the third move, L had stopped giving me curious glances. I was partly surprised that I had taken in any of what the tapes had said.

"So... what's on them, Ryuzaki?" Yagami-san asked as the task force reentered the room.

"Very interesting videos." L said, "the instructions were to broadcast video 3 if the police said "yes" to working with Kira. And if the answer was "no," to show video 4."

"Video 3 details the conditions for cooperation. Basically, they were to show more criminals on the news, and particularly to report crimes in which people were injured, or cruelty was shown toward the weak, even if those crimes were minor. And Kira will be the one to decide who should be punished." he explained.

"And, as proof that the police are sincere about working together with him– to have top NPA officials and L appear on tv to make the announcement."

That had been the one part in the video that I hadn't needed to move through, my hand tightened on the arm of the chair. L didn't look too worried, but then, L never looked worried.

"In other words, to make the top brass and me show our faces, so that if the police start acting suspiciously... he can kill us off." he was calm, completely and utterly calm even when he was speaking about being killed by Kira.

"I'm almost sure that Kira knew very well the police would never say "yes" when he decided to take this step. Anybody could guess that the police would respond exactly as they did yesterday." L said.

"So what about the "no" video, number 4...?" Yagami-san asked.

"Basically, it's the same thing. Just expressed in a different manner." L answered. "It'll be much faster to have you watch it then to explain it in words." he told them reaching for the remote on the table.

"Yagami-san. Obviously, the police are going to say "no"... so please go ahead and give Sakura Tv permission to air this video." he said after the task force had watched the tape.

With that request made, the task force left, the video wouldn't be aired for another four days so I decided to de-stress by reading one of the magazines that the hotel employees left on the table.

It was last month's issue of "Eighteen" that wasn't the only magazine on the table, but it was on top of the stack.

I thumbed through it to the middle page where there was an article about Kira. It wasn't very interesting, but it gave me something to do with my time.

"This magazine has several models in it that support Kira." I said absently, I hadn't expected an answer.

I had moved from the arm of L's chair down to the floor and was lying on my stomach reading the magazine. L had rewound the tapes and was watching them again, though there was no real point to it so he was likely killing time just like I was.

I turned the page, then looked up as I heard L move. I had been expecting him to adjust his posture and return to the videos, so I was surprised as he sat down on the floor next to me.

I was lying down and he was crouching on the floor to my left, reading over my shoulder. The fact that he was now two feet taller then me was quite annoying so I sat up and adjusted the magazine so that he couldn't see the page I was reading.

I had always hated having people behind me, so having him read over my shoulder made me nervous. I had expected him to take the hint and go back to the chair, but he didn't

instead, he moved from my left to my right in order to continue his reading. I didn't bother trying again, I could already tell it wouldn't work.

"Who's that?" he asked after a few minutes of silent reading.

"Um..." I had to turn back a few pages to find the name of the model he was referring to. "Amane. Misa Amane..." she was blond, small, thin, and too young for him if that had been what he was thinking. "She's a Kira supporter." I said, though there wasn't any reason to point that out.

He didn't answer, and I began to wonder if that had been what he was thinking.

I sighed and stood up, there was no reason for me to be sitting on the floor reading a fashion magazine with L. I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. We never kept much food in the room because we moved around so much but at this point the fridge was completely empty.

"Want to go get some food?" I asked without thinking.

"Go out to dinner?" he asked me.

"What? No, I mean go shopping, we're out of food, I don't think there are any decent restaurants around here anyway." I said, turning away to hide the shade of red I had turned. I made a mental note to think through my sentences before opening my mouth. Of course, two friends going out to dinner wasn't unusual... or a date.

"It only takes one person to go shopping." L pointed out.

"I know but, well... I don't know what you eat." I said. It had been a lie, we ate almost the exact same foods, though the only reason I would have for lying to him about that, would be that I wanted him to come... so why would I do that?

"I don't think I can go outside." He said.

Stupid Kira, I had completely forgotten.

"Oh, right, of course. Sorry." I picked up my purse and walked toward the door, I wanted to leave so I could blush in peace.

"There's and ice cream shop around the corner." He said as I began to open the door.

"Ice cream...?" I turned back to face him. He had stood up.

"I... could go, if it's not far..." He was... joking... right? Why would he risk being killed by Kira, for ice cream? Then again, ice cream was good...

"Um... sure, ice cream's good." I said, trying to smile, but I was too confused.

He nodded and walked right past me out the door. He just wants ice cream, I decided, and maybe fresh air.

I followed him out the door. It was night, so it was a bit cold but I didn't mind at all, and L always seemed warm no matter what because he was wearing a long sleeved shirt and jeans. I was in a white tank top and jeans.

The ice cream shop was right around the corner, so it wasn't a far walk and the shop was surprisingly warm for a place that sold frozen dessert.

Naturally, we both got several scoops of flavors that no one in there right mind would put together, but it still tasted good.

We sat in the back of the shop, farthest from the counter and the door. Which meant that if we kept our voices down, we could talk about anything we wanted.

"Hey, uh, L– er, Ryuzaki– sorry." I hated when he changed his name, it was confusing. He looked up from his ice cream. "Uh, what if... what if I went on Tv, say I was L? Kira wouldn't be able to kill me so–"

"No." he cut me off. "If Kira couldn't kill you, he would simply kill the director general and the others. Besides, there's no guarantee that Kira would believe that L was a woman."

I don't know why that point upset me, but it did. I stood up quickly, knocking my chair backwards. And as I did, I fulfilled one of the aspirations I had, had since he had told Raito he was L. I slapped him, hard across the face.

Even in the small shop it echoed. "You– you... sexist jerk!" I shouldn't have made such a big deal about it, but I did. "What's wrong with being a woman? The fake Kira is–" I froze, at that moment I realized that we were in a public place, and even though the shop was almost empty, we still weren't alone.

I forced myself to sit back down and think about what I was saying.

"I'm sorry." I said, then took a deep breath and ate some more ice cream.

"Fake Kira?" he asked, he was rubbing his cheek where I had hit him.

Oh dang, I had forgotten that he hadn't announced the fake Kira thing yet, though he must have figured it out by now so... this was a test.

Now that I had gotten over my burst of sudden, unnecessary, rage, I felt guilty about hitting him.

"Yeah, haven't you noticed?" I asked, while I put my hand on his cheek as well, he moved his hand so he could put it over mine. I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Noticed what?" he asked, I could feel his jaw muscles moving as he spoke, I wondered why I was pointing that out to myself.

"Um... well– gulp– the tapes, they didn't seem like they were thought through very well, and Kira wouldn't use innocent people as proof that he/she was Kira..." I tried to stay calm... but this was a dead end road.

"What lead you to believe that you wouldn't be killed if you took my place on tv?" he asked

if he didn't have my right hand, and my left hand wasn't holding a spoonful of ice cream, then I would have slapped myself for my stupid mistake. And that mistake was that L had assumed that this Kira only needed a face to kill, not that seeing someone's face gave them the person's name to kill them, so the fact that I had said I was safe because I didn't have a name, showed that I knew more about Kira then I was telling him.

The answers I could give him to get out of this were limited, because I obviously couldn't say I didn't have a face, and he had, at that exact moment moved his right hand to stroke my cheek as if to prove that point. Now I was in even more trouble, because with his right hand on my cheek and his left hand holding my right hand on his cheek, I was so distracted by the contact that I couldn't think strait.

He was waiting for an answer, but I had none to give, and I wasn't going to pull one out of thin air or I might say something stupid like "your hand is warm" or start babbling about nothing.

So I tried to avoid the question "does your cheek still hurt?" I asked, it had been the first thing to pop into my head.

"No, it doesn't." he said releasing my hand, though he didn't move his hand from my cheek, so my thoughts were still jumbled uselessly.

"I'm sorry I hit you." I said, I had to stall for time, though what would happen at the end of that time was still a mystery.

"Excuse me." a woman said. L dropped his hand as we turned toward the voice. "It's closing time, you'll have to leave, now."

I had never in my life, felt such gratitude towards an ice cream shop employee.

"Right, of course." I said as I stood up.

L stood up as well and we left the shop, it was about nine at night, so it made sense that the shop was closing, but the problem was that now I would have to go back to the hotel and wait in the room with L until morning.

We walked down the street and through the front lobby in silence, it wasn't until we were back in the room that I realized something. It wasn't important, but I still felt like it needed to be said.

"Ryuzaki, I... " he turned around, he was most likely expecting another apology for hitting him, "I just realized... the reason I got angry in the shop was... I was scared."

"You were scared?" he asked, and I noticed how that could be taken as an insult to him.

"Yes, it's because, if you go on tv as L then... you'll die..." I had to take a few deep breaths, I also stepped further into the room, which brought me closer to him. He had taken the movement the wrong way, or that could have been one explanation for why he closed the rest of the gap between us.

I hated how this kept happening, he was holding me closer to him then I would have liked in that situation, so in order to distract myself, I finished the thought. "I don't want you to die..." I whispered quietly, he had probably heard me, because a moment later his cheek brushed mine. I sucked in a breath which must have worried him because he backed off a little. I took the chance because I wasn't going to put myself through this again.

"I'm.. Going to sleep." I said quickly and ran from the room. Why did I keep reacting this way?

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**author's note: **ok, writing in first person is so much easier. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Oh! And that last part was not a kiss it was more of a hug, just so no one is confused.


	50. Chapter 50

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 50**

**Equal**

It was four days later, on April 22nd that the Kira video was played, announcing that the police had refused to cooperate.

"_It is highly unfortunate that the police have said "no" to my offer._" the Kira voice said through the screen. The task force listened from the hotel room. "_However, I expect news reports to continue featuring criminals as before, or else I will have to pass judgement on people in the police and media._"

"_But... since the police have decided to oppose me, that alone will not do._" I tensed up, I already knew what was about to be said, but that didn't make anything easier. "_As a penalty, I will take the life of the director-general of the NPA, which has formed a task force to find and capture me– or of the alleged mastermind leading this task force, known only as L._"

That part of the video always made me choke, or at least make a subtle noise close to a choke.

"_The director-general, or L– which will it be? You have four days to decide who will be sacrificed for the loss of a peaceful and just world._" I had to look away from the screen and take a deep breath, I felt stupid for being so upset when even L himself was calm, I felt something brush my hand, it could have been L's hand, because I was sitting on the arm of his chair again, or just my imagination.

"_I know the face of the director general, and could easily take his life. But if L is chosen instead he is to appear on Sakura Tv in four days, on the six pm news, and speak for a ten minute period. I will be the judge of whether the person shown is L._"

"_If I determine the person is not L, I will take the lives of several police chiefs worldwide as compensation. Lying to me will cost you dearly. I will say this yet again– I do not want to take the lives of innocent people._"

"_You have four days. Think it over, and think well._"

I hated this Kira, even more then I hated the first one. I hated this one, because they didn't think things through, and because of that, they were winning.

The video ended, and the task force left. There had been no point in staying through the night, and Yagami-san had a meeting to go to.

L didn't move much at first, he didn't seem scared, just focused. He might have been trying to come up with a way to not die.

"Ryuzaki, I..." no, I couldn't say it, it was stupid anyway and he wouldn't care.

I got off the arm of his chair and began to walk towards my bedroom, but as I passed behind the chair I stopped, not for any reason, but while I was standing there I decided what to do.

"It'll be ok. We'll figure something out, I promise." I told him as I leaned on the back of his chair and rested my hand on his shoulder. I knew it was a stupid thing to say, he must have known it too, it was much more likely that he would have to tell me that. I hated how I was taking this situation worse then he was, and I was safe from Kira.

He didn't say anything, but he grabbed my hand and held it there for what felt like several minutes, he was probably trying to make me feel better. I was the one who needed to be told that everything would be ok, not him.

After a little while he let go of my hand and stood up, I waited patiently for him to turn towards me, and when he did I made my best attempt at an encouraging smile. It was probably a pathetic attempt.

He walked closer to me, and I was momentarily frightened that he was going to try and kiss me again, but it was a hug. I was starting to feel like this was normal, which was something that I desperately wanted to avoid. After the initial shock of his sudden movement, I began to wonder if he was getting bolder.

There had been a period of four months between his first attempt at getting too close and his second, but if this was a third attempt then that meant there had only been a four day period between his second and third.

I didn't pull away this time because, the way I saw it, if he had closed the time gap between his attempts by more then three months in one try it probably meant that he was going to start getting persistent as well as constant. So it was probably best to not resist, just let him test me on whatever it was he was doing, then move on.

"It's ok." he whispered into my hair, he knew that I was more worried about him then he likely was about himself, so he was trying to make me feel better. And, as hard as it is to admit, it was working. Just having him right there made me feel better.

Then I noticed something that I had always missed before. My heart was pounding like I had been running for miles. I guess it never stood out before because every time he got close enough to make it happen, I started thinking way too hard about him and missed the effect he was having on me physically.

And then, there was just how plain warm he was, it made me wonder why he always wore warm clothes, he was probably warm on his own.

After a few minutes of me not moving he let go, he had probably guessed that I was letting him do what he wanted until he had whatever answer he was trying to get out of this.

"Goodnight." he said simply and turned away.

I blinked a few times as if that was going to help me figure out what he was doing. He walked out of the room, I finally let him do what he wants and he leaves... oh well, I shrugged, "Night, Ryuzaki." I called before going back to my room. He must have found his answer.

Even though the fact that he wasn't going to be trying anything like that again should be a comfort, I couldn't get to sleep, not like that was unusual, but after a while I started wondering if L was actually sleeping in his room or if he was awake, thinking about something.

Part of me wanted to go see what he was doing, but I decided not to, it would be stupid to walk over to his bedroom– even though it was in the same hotel room as mine– just to see what he was doing with his time. And what excuse would I give him if he noticed me?

No, it was a bad idea, I wasn't going to go check, it was probably early morning by now too, so he couldn't be asleep.

I wasn't going to check, it was stupid, completely stupid and pointless...

But I still went, it was the most impulsive thing I had done in weeks and I knew it was a bad idea but I went anyway...

The door wasn't all the way closed so I didn't have to turn the knob to open it enough to see through. He wasn't asleep, in fact he looked wide awake. And at first I thought he didn't see me watching him, but then I heard him say something, it wasn't meant to be heard by me or he would have said it louder but I could still tell what it was.

"It worked...?" he didn't seem, at first, like he had noticed me, but at that point I realized that he knew I was there.

Since he already knew... "what worked?" I asked, stepping into the room, he had already been watching the door, so my entrance didn't startle him.

"Right here, it says that if you act indifferent toward a woman they'll approach you." he told me, holding up a magazine.

I honestly didn't know what to say. But of course the fact that he was trying out teen magazine dating advice on me was one of the strangest things I had ever experienced.

"Uh... where did you get that, Ryuzaki?" I asked as I walked further into the room. I had already turned red so there wasn't much else that could happen at the moment.

"You had it first." he said, turning the magazine around so I could see the front cover. It was the last month's issue of _Eighteen_ that I had been reading four days ago.

"Ok... why are you reading it then? It's a teen magazine." but he didn't have to answer, because at that point I had remembered. "Wait, does this have anything to do with Amane Misa?" I asked.

"Jealousy is– " he began to read but I cut him off.

"I'm not jealous!! Just... give me that!" I said as I tried to rip the magazine from his hands, but he had probably seen that coming and held it just out of my reach. I reached for it again, this time though, I crawled onto the bed. He stretched his arm out toward the head of the bed as I tried to wrench the thing from his fingers causing me to lose my balance and fall on top of him, but I still wouldn't give up.

I tried to crawl over him to grab the infernal thing that had given him the idea that it was ok to try dating advice out on me without really meaning what he was saying or doing. But he wasn't going to give it up, I got close enough to feel wind as he moved it away again, but before I could make another jump for it, he wrapped his free arm around my waist, holding me up against him so that I couldn't reach the magazine.

I hated that he was both taller and stronger then I was, because as long as he kept his arm around me, I couldn't move enough to grab the glossy thing that he was trying so hard to keep away from me.

I gave up any stopped struggling, he wasn't going to let me have it so I decided it was best not to waist any more energy on it. I dropped the arm that I had been using to reach for the magazine, and conveniently hit L in the nose before flopping onto him like a dead weight.

I had relaxed all my muscles and was simply laying on him, I wished I was heavier so I could at least make him regret the fact that I wasn't going to move yet, but as he had said before– probably a while ago– I was 'quite light' oh well.

"It did work." he stated after a moment.

That was it, I repositioned myself so that I could lay flat on my stomach on top of him and rest my chin on his chest, while I did so I made a point of elbowing him in the ribs.

"So then, what else in that magazine "works"?" I asked, but he had trouble answering because not only had I knocked the air out of him somehow but also he couldn't look back at the magazine for fear that I might snatch it away.

"I don't know yet." he said.

"Yet?" I asked, I wondered if these tips were going to be coming up a lot in the next few days.

"Yes, that was the first one I had tried." that was annoying those magazines could have hundreds of useless dating tips in them.

"Well, are you going to try more?" I asked, I hoped that the answer would be no.

"Are you upset?" he asked, as if he couldn't tell.

"No, I'm not." I sighed. "But you should know I'm not the best test subject."

"Yes, but right here it says– " he tried to read the magazine, which brought it within my reach, I made a grab for it but he was also faster then me and moved it out of the way while trying to get into a sitting position as I leapt for it, which caused our noses to collide.

"Ouch." I said as I rubbed the bruise that I knew would form. "Fine, keep the thing, I'm going to sleep." I said and walked back out of the room. My nose still hurt.

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**author's note**: ok, I know the last two chapters have been useless, but I'm trying to write things that are easier and faster because there was something I had to finish, but now I can get back to the plot. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	51. Chapter 51

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 51**

**Corner**

Yagami-san walked in the door and sat down on the couch sighing heavily.

"How did it go, chief?" Aizawa asked.

"Just as I thought, Ryuzaki... world leaders have talked it over among themselves, and... they're demanding that L... not a stand-in but the real L... appear on Tv... after doing almost nothing to help with the investigation, they don't even try to come up with an alternative. Kira says jump, they ask how high..." Yagami-san answered.

"Their decision is both right and reasonable." L said, "it's simply unacceptable for the police to work with Kira. And if it's between me and the NPA director general, of course it should be me. I'm the one who challenged Kira and said I'd capture him. It's the right decision."

"But... that means you'll... be..." Matsuda tried to say, but we all knew already.

"What worries me more is that when I appear on Tv, and I intend to... if Kira knows nothing about me, then even if it's really me out there... how do get him to believe I'm L?" he wondered.

"You've got a point..." Matsuda agreed.

"Hey..." Aizawa objected.

"Well, I'll do what I can to make him believe me... but if I fail, and police chiefs around the world get killed as a result... that's what bothers me." L said. "It'll be quite hard, proving that I'm L... I really don't know how Kira intends to figure it out..."

"Ryuzaki, I said I could do it..." I told him, standing up and gripping the coffee table, I knew it was a waist of time but I had to try and convince him to let me take his place. "You know that I could convince Kira I was L, no one knows what you look like or sound like so it really wont be hard... and I'm certain that this Kira is a woman! So _she_ should believe that L could be a woman too!"

"No that wont work. Even if you convince Kira that you're me, if they can't kill you, they'll kill the others anyway." L said, I didn't miss that he was using _they_ instead of he or she.

"Ok, wait! What do you mean _this_ Kira?" Aizawa asked.

So they really hadn't noticed, then how was this theory going to affect them?

"Think about it," I suggested, "there are tons of things that show this Kira's a different person. Like Ukita, Kira couldn't kill with just a face but this Kira seems to be able to do that, and the tapes, the victims used to prove that the sender was really Kira were pathetic, the kind of people the real Kira wouldn't notice..."

"So, based on that you believe this Kira is a fake?" Yagami-san asked.

"No, not a fake. This Kira clearly has the same powers as the real one, I think she's more of a _second Kira_." I answered.

"What?! A second Kira?!"

"Yes, or that's what I think, anyway..." I said.

"Yumi?" L asked as he ate the strawberry off his cake.

"Hmm?" I looked at him.

"You've contradicted yourself." he stated.

"I have?" I wondered.

"Yes, you just said that this Kira could kill with just a face, yet you're still convinced that you wouldn't die if you took my place on tv." He explained.

"Oh, well that's because..." there had to be a way out of this. "Ah! Kira and this second Kira have the same powers, which meant that they probably got them from the same source. So it makes more sense that they both need a name and face to kill, maybe the second Kira just has a way of learning someone's name by looking at their face..." I tried to convince the task force at least that, that was it.

"_Hmm,_" L didn't seem convinced but he let it go. "And what about your theory that this Kira is a woman?" he asked.

"Ok, I know this may not be easy, –I pointedly glared at L– but try and think about a woman's personality, this Kira sent videos to a tv station asking for police cooperation, but there's no way she expected to get it, which meant that the videos were likely meant to announce her existence to the real Kira."

"Of course if this Kira had started killing criminals instead of this, then the real Kira would have noticed before long anyway, which means that this Kira is impatient, but it also could mean that this Kira wants to be seen as useful which would put them in a situation to meet the real Kira."

"I'll admit that I'm not an expert in male/ female personality differences but I'm nearly certain that if a man gained the same power as Kira and wanted to help, he would just start killing criminals. But, then again, my theory is based mostly on instinct." I finished.

"So, because this Kira sent videos to Sakura Tv, you assume they're female?" L asked.

"Basically." I said, though I knew my theory must have sounded shaky, especially when he restated it so simply.

"I find it hard to believe a theory based solely on 'instinct'." L said.

I was about to protest but was cut off by Aizawa who seemed to have remembered something important.

"Wait, now that I think about it, forensics found these fingerprints on the packaging and the videos themselves, I didn't bring it up before because I thought Kira had made someone else leave prints on the stuff but... if this is a second Kira then, maybe they just didn't think..." he suggested, handing a small bag with a sample of the fingerprints inside to L.

I waited for him to say something but he simply held the bag up and examined the prints.

"_Hmm, _I suppose these fingerprints could belong to a small woman, or perhaps a child..." L consented.

"A child? Isn't that close to what my son said at the hospital?" Yagami-san asked.

"Yes it is, so, whether this is Kira or the second Kira, your son may be right." L agreed.

I had been forgotten. Naturally.

"Well, assuming this is a second Kira... even if the two Kiras don't kill people in the same way... I believe that if we capture one, we'll gain some clues at least as to how to capture the other one."L said. "In my estimation, the real Kira is the smarter of the two. And if I were him... I would try to find out who the second Kira is before the police do. I would gauge whether they sympathized with me, and if they did, I would make full use of them... and ultimately, before the police close in, eliminate them... that means were in a race with Kira to track down the second Kira... which in turn means we have the opportunity to capture the real Kira."

Take full advantage of them, and then eliminate them... like a tool...

"Yagami-san. Would it be alright with you if I ask your son to work with us when he has the time?" L asked.

"Can I take that to mean he's 100 percent cleared of suspicion?" Yagami-san asked.

"No, I can't say that... but I do think he has very good reasoning abilities... in fact... I think your son could be a valuable asset to us in apprehending the second Kira." L answered. I guess it was alright if he still suspected him...

"Well, if my son says yes, I have no reason to stop him." Yagami-san said.

"We don't mind, either..." Aizawa and Matsuda chimed in.

"I'm pretty sure your son's sense of justice will lead him to agree. How ever... please keep it a secret from him that this Kira may be a fake. I want him to think he's helping us hunt down the same Kira we've been pursuing all along." L instructed.

"But... wouldn't that make it difficult for him to help us...?" Matsuda asked.

"Yeah... why even ask for his help..?" Aizawa agreed.

"No, we will only keep that part from him until he's watched this first tape and given us his opinion. After that, we will include him and go after the second Kira together." L explained, the task force was obviously confused.

"Raito-kun's reasoning ability is quite amazing. After seeing this tape, he may conclude there's a second Kira. I'd like to see his reaction to seeing all our evidence and this tape." he told us.

"But this 'second Kira' theory is just because you think that the victims were the types of criminals that Kira hasn't touched, right...?" Matsuda asked.

"It's more then that..." L informed him, "the Kira we have been investigating needs a person's name and face to kill them. But that time at the Tv station, cops who just happened to show up were killed. And this Kira seemed confident he could kill me as long as I showed my face on television... this means that the second Kira can kill knowing only a persons face, or they can learn someone's name by seeing their face. This is different from the Kira we have been chasing."

"What if our information was wrong, or Kira's abilities have changed?" Aizawa asked.

"If that were the case, Kira would kill the major criminals who's names he hasn't been able to find out." L pointed out. "If after getting updated on our investigation and seeing the tape... if Raito-kun deduces that there could be a second Kira... the suspicion against Raito-kun will be _mostly_ cleared."

"What do you mean Ryuzaki?" Yagami-san asked.

"Kira would want L dead no matter what, that's obvious from the Lind L. tailor incident. If I go before the tv cameras and die in three days, then the number of possible suspects will spread throughout the world. I don't see how Kira would want to spoil such a perfect opportunity." L explained.

"But either way, it might not change the fact that you'll die... why would merely suggesting a second Kira clear him of suspicion?" Aizawa asked.

"If the sender of the video is a second Kira, then there are ways to stop him. At the very least, the second Kira agrees with Kira's actions. I'm thinking he would follow orders from the real Kira. That means there's a high chance we could stop him by creating a fake message from the real Kira. If Raito-kun is Kira, then I don't think he'll mention the possibility of a second Kira until he's confirmed my death." L said.

"This is a little confusing to me..." Matsuda admitted.

"Then you're saying your suspicion of my son will grow if he doesn't mention that there's a second Kira?" Yagami-san asked.

"Yeah, that's a bit harsh." Aizawa argued.

"No, in that case my suspicion will stay at five percent. I'll just reveal that we are investigating under the theory of a second Kira, and have him assist us. And Just in case, from now on use your fake names, even here. And Watari will not be coming here anymore. He will always be on the outside, as another L who only I know." L instructed.

"Understood, Ryuzaki." Watari said through the computer.

"We're going that far...?" Aizawa asked in confusion.

"Well then, if Raito-kun is ok with it, have him come here secretly as soon as he can." L ordered.

"All right." Yagami-san agreed as he opened his cell phone.

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**author's note: **I started late gain tonight, so sorry. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Oh, and because the question has finally been asked, I sit down at the computer after dinner and in the course of two to four hours I write one chapter and post it. I never stock up chapters even when I first started. I just write off the top of my head and post it every night. Thanks again!


	52. Chapter 52

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 52**

**Code**

It didn't take long for Raito to get here, in fact it almost seemed like he rushed right over.

I was sitting in the room with L, Yagami-san and Aizawa-san while Matsuda-san went to get Raito from the front drive.

"Ryuzaki, I'd like to confirm this again. If my son brings up the possibility of a second Kira, then he will be cleared?" Yagami-san asked, it was about the third time he had confirmed it.

"As I said earlier, _mostly_ cleared." L told him. Again.

At that moment the door to the room opened and the conversation was cut off.

"Thank you, Yagami-kun." L said as he crossed the room.

"Not at all, Ryuga. I want to catch Kira as much as you do." Liar.

"Please call me Ryuzaki here." L requested.

"I'm Matsui."

"I'm Aihara."

"And I'm Asahi..."

"I see... then should I be 'Raito Asahi'?" Raito asked.

"That would be fine. I will call you Raito-kun here." L answered.

"So the investigation team is only four members...?" Raito asked.

"No, we have other trusted members on the outside." L stated. "And among them is one who can only be contacted directly by me."

"Now, how about we get right down to things?" he suggested, "would you take a look at the evidence we've gathered, and the unreleased tape that was sent to the tv station? Understand that taking the documents out of this room or making notes is prohibited."

Raito watched the tapes, his back was to the task force, but even from that angle I could tell he was fighting back the urge to be sick, probably from the poor quality of the video. Though it could have been my imagination.

"So what do you think Raito-kun? Figure anything out?" L asked once the video had finished.

"Huh?" Raito-kun must have realized that this was a test, "there may be more then one person with Kira's powers." he answered.

"K-Kira's powers?! What do you mean Raito?" Yagami-san asked.

"At the very least, there's a high chance that this isn't the same Kira. Up till now, Kira wouldn't use suspects like this to show he can predict their deaths." Raito answered.

"It's the same..." Aizawa seemed shocked.

"Exactly the same as L... I mean Ryuzaki's reasoning..." Matsuda agreed.

I rolled my eyes. He only knew that because he was Kira.

"And if Kira needs a name and face to Kill someone, then how does it explain how the cops who showed up at the station were killed?"

"Exactly, Raito-kun. We are also assuming this is a second Kira." L said.

"So you knew, Ryuga... I mean Ryuzaki? You were testing me?" Raito asked.

Yes.

"It wasn't a test." L corrected him, "if I was the only one who came up with a second Kira theory, then it wouldn't be persuasive. With you also thinking the same thing, the theory is greatly strengthened. You really are a great help, Raito-kun."

I had been forgotten again, big surprise...

"Then it's decided." L said, "first we must stop the second Kira. He's clearly on Kira's side, and not very bright. He may respond to a message from the real Kira. If a second Kira doesn't exist then it's meaningless, but it's still worth a try. We need to be thinking about how to deal with the real Kira, but we must focus on this first."

"Impressive, Ryuzaki." Raito said, "I was just thinking that was the best option..."

"And for this, Raito-kun... I want you to play the part of the real Kira!" L requested.

I almost laughed out loud, Kira pretending not to be Kira pretending to be Kira, it was funny to me.

"M...me?" Raito asked, he was in trouble.

"Yes, it should be easy with your abilities." L answered, "we don't have much time, will you please write up a message from the real Kira that we can use during tonight's news?"

He didn't wait for an answer, "Matsui-san, I need a high quality "Kira" image that will make him look real. Aihara-san, prepare the dubbing machine. Asahi-san, contact all the tv stations and reserve a ten-minute block every hour starting at seven tonight." L instructed.

"Yes."

"Understood." came calls of agreement.

"Is that good enough, Ryuzaki? I tried to get into Kira's shoes." Raito asked, a little after the meeting as L read over the script he had written.

"It's very well done but... if we don't take out this "but you can kill L" part... I'll die." Ryuzaki pointed out.

"_Ha ha._ Well, when I thought about it from Kira's point of view, I figured he'd definitely want L dead in this situation." Raito explained, "it was just a joke, fix that up as you see fit."

I'm sure he was hoping that L wouldn't proofread the script first...

"Yes. Aihara-san, the script is ready. Here you are." L said, handing the paper to Aizawa.

"Right." Aizawa said as he left the room.

"_We have startling news_." a News 7 anchor man said on tv. "_Reacting to the video broadcast on Sakura Tv the other day, another Kira has appeared stating he is the real one!_"

"_This morning at 11, a video was sent to the police headquarters and eight criminals died one by one from heart attacks every ten minutes, starting at two in the afternoon. And then a demand was made for each tv station to broadcast this message from the true Kira. The police have agreed to let us show this video._"

"_Was it Kira? Is this also Kira? Lets first watch the message itself._"

The screen changed to an image of the word Kira, it was a bit obvious that Matsuda had seen it as "high grade."

"_I am Kira_." a dubbed voice said, though if the viewers could read that went without saying, "_I am the true Kira. And the creator of the video shown on Sakura Tv is not Kira._"

"_At this time, I will show leniency to the person who claimed to be me by assuming he did it out of an attempt to help me achieve my goals. However, killing and threatening the lives of innocent police officers goes against my will. It only causes chaos and interferes with my desire for the people to understand my purpose._"

"_If the person who claimed to be me emphasizes with my goals and wishes to assist me, then I ask that they first try to understand my will. If they do not heed my warning and continue to act in this manner, then I will be forced to pass judgement on him._"

With that the video ended, I heaved a sigh, if this Kira was stupid enough to fall for this, then it meant that L wouldn't have to go on tv... Raito must really hate that fact.

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**author's note**: sorry that one's short and not really interesting, but I started late again and I didn't have time to go to the next best place to stop. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	53. Chapter 53

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 53**

**Reply**

Raito must have hated the situation.

After all, L had been in danger of being killed which was what he had wanted from the beginning, but then in order to keep himself clear of suspicion, Raito had needed to save his life... if I wasn't so worried about the second Kira I would have laughed.

"Ryuzaki! we've received a reply from the second Kira." Watari said through the computer.

"What?!"

"Already?!" the task force exclaimed in disbelief, it hadn't been more then a day.

"Judging by the envelope, tape, the way it was sealed, handwriting, and visual quality, there's little doubt it's from the same person. The materials are on the way to you but... I will now send you a copy of what's on the tape." Watari explained and a minute later the laptop received the video feed.

"_Kira, thank you for responding._" the dubbed voice said through the screen which now displayed the hand written Kira letters. "_I will do as you say._"

"Yes!"

"Oh!"

Matsuda and Yagami seemed quite happy about this, but Ryuzaki, Raito and I all remained silent.

"_I want to meet you, Kira. I don't think you have the eyes, but I wont kill you. Don't worry._"

That was interesting, this person was obviously stupid if they would talk about the eyes– shinigami eyes, obviously– on a video meant for the general public. Raito looked positively horrified at this development but I wasn't nervous, 'the eyes' could mean just about anything.

"Having the eyes..." what does that mean?" Aizawa asked.

"_Please think of a way we can meet without the police knowing_." so, this person knew that the real Kira was smarter then them. "_We can confirm each other when we meet by showing our shinigami._"

Oh-wow this person was stupid, if Raito wasn't having a heart attack just watching this video, then that would do the trick–

_Crash_

Ryuzaki's chair fell over with a loud thud. The whole task force had moved to his side in a few seconds but I was faster, I had already dropped to my knees next to him.

"Are you ok, Ryuzaki...?" Matsuda asked, worried.

"Shinigami...? are we suppose to accept the existence of such a thing...?" Ryuzaki asked to no one in particular.

"Shinigami? No way..." Matsuda tried to answer.

"You klutzy idiot, I thought you were dying or something..." I muttered under my breath.

"You're right, Ryuzaki. Shinigami can't possibly exist." Raito said. Ryuk watched us from behind him.

Ryuzaki turned around to look at Raito. "Kira also made a prisoner write something that seemed to suggest the existence of shinigami..." he said.

"Then should we assume this is the same Kira? The same person using the same word?" Yagami-san asked.

"That's not possible, Dad." Raito pointed out, "if this is the same Kira, then there's no way he'd reply to our video tape. Why would Kira go along with our plan and stop L from going on tv?"

"Then the real Kira and second Kira have joined forces and are trying to confuse the investigation with the word "shinigami"?" Aizawa suggested.

"That's also not possible." Ryuzaki stated as I helped him up, once he was on his feet he picked up his chair, "as Raito-kun said, if they were working together, then they wouldn't stop their plan to kill me. The second Kira is working from his own feelings, and not Kira's ideals. It's not related to Kira's goals of "punishing criminals to change the world and killing anyone who gets in my way"."

"The second Kira's own feelings...the desire to meet Kira." he said, as he sat back down. I moved away from him.

"That's right, the second Kira isn't acting out of a sense of changing the world. He's merely interested in Kira." Raito agreed, "maybe the "shinigami" term is describing the ability to kill? "Confirming each other by showing our shinigami." we could think of that as meaning that they will show each other their abilities to kill people." he suggested.

"Yes... at the very least, we know that the word "shinigami" has some kind of meaning between the two of them. We can try to set things up in order to learn more about this." Ryuzaki said.

"Then we'll send another message? If we fish around too much without knowing anything, we'll reveal that we're not really Kira." Raito mentioned.

"No, from now on we'll let Kira and the second Kira handle everything." Ryuzaki said.

"Let them...?" Aizawa wondered.

"We can assume that the second Kira is very happy right now after receiving a reply from Kira... even if he knows it was created by the police. He's succeeded in getting Kira's attention. And he's used terms only the two of them would understand. We'll run this reply on tonight's six o'clock news on Sakura Tv. Obviously Kira must be paying attention to this back and forth between the second Kira and the one we have created." Ryuzaki explained.

"From Kira's view, he'd definitely want to avoid the second Kira getting captured by the police. Kira may start worrying about what will happen if he doesn't intervene. It's possible that the real Kira may send a reply next time."

"And with these circumstances, he'd have to use Sakura Tv. The internet is full of irresponsible claims about Kira and L's identity, it would be impossible to verify. And most importantly, judging from the second Kira's video message, it seems likely that he is bad with machines, and not particularly diligent."

"I've also been thinking about what the second Kira will do if no reply comes from Kira... the second Kira will probably release more information to the police and media that Kira wants to keep secret, in order to pressure Kira into meeting him. That would be very interesting."

"Indeed." Ryuk agreed, though no one but Raito and I could hear him.

And it would be even more interesting if Kira sends a reply in order to avoid this. If that happens there's a chance we could gain some physical evidence against Kira. Closely examine every piece of mail sent to every tv station. If they do receive something from Kira or the second Kira, I will decide whether they can broadcast it or not. For now lets gather all the evidence we can on the second Kira." L finished.

"Ryuzaki, based on the video tape's manufacturing number and date it was sold, we've narrowed it down to..." Aizawa listed several places that the tape could have come from, but I had already lost interest.

The night continued like that the task force volunteering theories on different things, after a while I walked over to the fridge. It was empty again.

"I'm going shopping." I announced as I grabbed my bag, I noticed Raito glance at me as I left the room.

I had made it around the corner by the time he caught up with me, I wondered what he wanted and how he had gotten away from the task force without looking suspicious, no doubt if I didn't come back, Ryuzaki would up his percentage of being Kira.

"Do you know who the second Kira is?" he asked me as I stopped walking to wait for traffic to pass.

"How would I know that?" I asked him back, he wasn't stupid.

"You found me after the first week." he replied.

"Oh, well this is different," I said as we crossed the street, "this Kira, doesn't use the death note constantly, I can't find them until they use it, and even then you might cover it up."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I stopped walking and leaned against a building. I wasn't sure if telling him was a bad idea or not.

"Well... I can sense death notes." I said flatly, he was bound to ask me sooner or later, and if I answered him now, he wouldn't ask again.

"You... what? How?" he asked.

_Sigh... _"It's like a red mist– kind of– that surrounds death notes, and the people they're killing at the time. I can also see shinigami without touching a death note first." I wondered what his reaction would be.

"So, that's how you found me?" he asked, "is there anything else you can do?"

I knew what he meant. "Don't worry, I can't stop what's already written, and even if I can, I don't know how."

"Fine, so why don't you just sense the second Kira's death note?"

"Why? Because you use yours so much that I get a headache from all the auras! Even if this Kira did use their note book I wouldn't be able to tell it was them unless I could see them, plus I can't sense a note unless it's being used and this Kira isn't killing all the time like you are." I answered.

"Well what if I found a way to tell the second Kira to kill someone and then didn't kill anyone that day? Would you be able to–" I cut him off.

"Yes, I would, but you seem to assume that if I find this second Kira, you'll be the first to know, but you wont! If I find them I wont tell you until you run into them yourself, if I'm going to tell you at all. I'm not on your side." I told him, pushing away from the building I had been leaning on and walking away down the street.

He caught up to me again. "Wait, isn't there anything I could do to make you help me find the second Kira? You said before that you don't want L to know about the death note, so if you help me find this other Kira he wont get caught by L." Raito tried to reason with me.

"No, besides, don't you think L would notice if criminals stopped dying for a day and I disappeared at the same time?" I asked.

No answer, obviously he hadn't thought of that.

"Listen, if you want to meet this second Kira, then why don't you send a video to Sakura and suggest a way to meet?" I asked, it seemed like the easiest way.

"I can't." he said as we walked into the store, "I wouldn't be able to sneak a tape past Ryuzaki, no, even if I do get a tape through, it would be impossible to find a way for us to meet that wouldn't be too obvious."

"Guess you're right, hey, strawberry or chocolate?" I asked, as I tried to choose between two ice creams, "no, I'll just get Neopolitan." I decided.

"Hey, are you listening?" he asked annoyed at my sudden distraction.

"No, not really." I answered truthfully, I didn't care about this right now, especially if all he was going to do was ask for my help finding the second Kira.

"Hey, wont your Mom be worried if you're not home in about ten minutes?" I asked after several minutes of him asking for my help and me standing in an isle asking him to help me choose between five or six different flavors of cake and two or three different syrups.

I had given up and bought them all.

"Goodnight!" I called as he walked off in the opposite direction with Ryuk while I began my trip back to the hotel. "Probably mad at me..." I muttered under my breath. Not like it mattered.

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**author's note:** dang, late again, ok, tomorrow I _will_ start on time! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	54. Chapter 54

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 54**

**May 2003**

1st I said I wouldn't be participating in club activities during golden week but my friend called and invited me anyway.

4th I went to Saitama Super Arena with a friend to see the Morning Musume concert.

5th it was the last day of vacation but I just sat around the house being lazy.

7th school has started but I just borrowed my friend's notes and skipped class.

10th my friend invited me to go drinking but I declined. Yokohama is too far.

13th the friend I promised to lend a cd to came by so I let her borrow it.

16th I forgot to do my report so I copied it off my friend.

19th I bought Jump for the first time in a while. The short story was really good.

22nd My friend and I showed off our notebooks in Aoyama.

23rd I ran into **HIM** in the cafeteria. He was eating pork curry rice.

24th I met a friend in Shibuya. We bought some clothes to wear this summer.

28th I heard they're coming out with something better then the PS2 called the PSX. Wow!

30th We confirmed our Shinigami at the Giants game at the Tokyo Dome.

I looked up at the task force once I had finished reading the diary.

"Ok... so this is from the second Kira?" I asked, I knew the answer which was good because at the moment Raito walked into the room.

I handed the diary page to him without a word and waited as he read it.

"The second Kira wants us to show the diary on tv?" Raito asked.

"Check the entry for the 30th." Yagami-san told him, he glanced back at the page.

For a moment he said nothing, if he only looked at the entry for the 30th then he wouldn't notice the real message, which meant that I could go without him to find the second Kira on the 22nd. Unfortunately he must have read the other entries because he suddenly seemed to show more interest in the page.

"What do you think, Raito-kun?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Huh? For now... all I can say is that this person is stupid." Raito decided.

"Exactly... wanting us to broadcast this diary is obviously a message to Kira." Matsuda agreed. "Even if it is written as a diary from last year, it's clear they plan to meet with Kira at the Giants game that happens to be on the same day this year."

"Does this mean the person can't even figure out that once we broadcast this, the game will be cancelled...?" Yagami-san asked.

"It'd be a total panic. The media would be screaming that going to the game would get you killed by Kira, and other nonsense." Matsuda agreed.

"Frankly, it seems idiotic but... that also makes it difficult to react to." Ryuzaki pointed out. "If we broadcast the diary, then we'll also have to announce that the game is cancelled. If we don't broadcast the diary, then the second Kira won't act."

"If the game is cancelled, he may get angry and do who knows what..." Aizawa argued.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Ryuzaki assured him, "the second Kira seems to revere Kira. Let's assume that he's sworn to the Kira we created not to kill unnecessarily anymore."

"She." I chimed in angrily, even after that _distinctly female _diary page, they refused to accept that Kira could be a woman.

Ryuzaki glanced at me, I pouted in his direction and he looked away.

"Anyway, for now... lets broadcast the diary and announce the cancellation of the game. And also, that we'll be closing off the streets around the Tokyo Dome and conducting an investigation there. We received so much police cooperation during that Sakura Tv incident, I believe we could manage that." he announced. I hadn't missed how he had ignored me. Again. "Then we'll create a reply from the "real" Kira saying "understood, let's meet"."

"You're not thinking they'd come after it's announced there will be police presence around the Tokyo Dome?" Yagami-san asked.

"I don't think Kira will come, but... I'm not sure about the second Kira. I don't know how stupid he is... also... let's assume he isn't that stupid and... think about whether there's any other hidden messages located in this diary." Ryuzaki said looking at the diary page again. I frowned.

"If there's some kind of code that only those who have this shinigami ability would understand, then I wont be able to find it, but... we should definitely keep our eyes on any location mentioned in the diary."

"22nd my friend and I showed off our notebooks in Aoyama. 24th I met a friend in Shibuya. We bought some clothes to wear this summer. This may be a waist of time, but lets put our attention on people holding notebooks in Aoyama and clothes stores in Shibuya." he decided.

"We'll start installing as many cameras as we can in Aoyama and Shibuya. And that day, we'll fill the streets with as many plain clothed police officers as we can get."

"But if Kira or the second Kira do come and notice people trying to capture them, won't they try to kill them? It's dangerous." Yagami-san stated.

"We're already announcing that we'll be "investigating" the Tokyo Dome... I don't think they'll have any problems if we question people, no even if we take fingerprints. If he's so stupid that he plans to come, knowing of the police presence and prepared to kill in order to see Kira, then we'll catch him easily..." Ryuzaki said.

"'Catch him easily.'...? but there will be victims..." Matsuda complained.

"No, what Ryuzaki is saying is that the second Kira couldn't be that stupid..." Yagami-san corrected him.

"No, I'm saying that as long as we are on this investigation, our lives are on the line. But for Aoyama and Shibuya, I doubt Kira or the second Kira will be killing regular people. Our officers will be dressed normally and simply be on the lookout for anyone suspicious. If they spot someone, then we will do nothing immediately, but investigate them later."

"So people like Asahi-san who's appearance screams out that they are a cop will note be on the beat." Matsuda laughed.

"...Right..." Yagami-san agreed.

"I'll go, I fit right in at Aoyama and Shibuya." Matsuda volunteered.

"I'll go too." Raito offered.

"Raito..." Yagami-san began to protest.

"Don't worry, Dad. Aoyama and Shibuya are places I go to sometimes, and I am the one who would seem the most natural hanging out with Matsui. And the only person the second Kira is interested in is Kira." Raito tried to convince him.

I wasn't going to let him find the second Kira first.

"Why don't I go with you?" I asked smiling, Raito knew what I was after. "There's nothing suspicious about Matsui having a girlfriend." I laughed, it had been a joke, but Matsuda turned red.

"We will broadcast this diary tomorrow." Ryuzaki instructed, changing the subject with unusual haste, or maybe it was just me. "Asahi-san. Can you get cooperation from the police before tomorrow night's news?" he ask.

"Right, I'll do my best." Yagami-san agreed.

"Also, and this is very important... it's true that this is a chance to catch Kira, or at least the second Kira. But at this point we must also think about Kira and the second Kira joining forces. I want to strengthen our security even more." Ryuzaki announced.

"What do you mean?" Aizawa asked.

"Don't reveal that you are working on this case to anyone, of course. Avoid going outside as police officers as much as possible, and I want you to destroy all photos of yourself but the ones on your person." Ryuzaki explained.

"I've left no photos of myself anywhere, even at To-oh University, where I'm registered. Even the security cameras at this hotel have been made to deactivate when we enter or leave." I blew on my finger nails for no reason then wiped my hand on my shirt.

"I want you to gather up all your files at the police headquarters, all your photos at home, and ones you've given away... and dispose of them." he ordered.

"Ryuzaki, does this mean you still suspect my son?" Yagami-san asked somewhere between confusion and anger.

"Unfortunately he's not totally in the clear, and that's part of it, but... this is because we're assuming that the second Kira only needs a face to kill the person." Ryuzaki clarified.

"You're right, Ryuzaki... it's impressive you were able to think that far." Raito agreed. "If Kira and the second Kira join hands and want to wipe out the investigation team... all they need is our pictures to kill us all." I cleared my throat, nobody noticed, "even Ryuzaki, who's name is unknown to anyone." this time I kept silent, there was no need to announce that, that wasn't true.

"Yes, I only showed myself to all of you because I assumed Kira needed both a face and name to kill. The situation has changed now... a second Kira has appeared and Kira may also gain this ability. In order to prevent that, I would at least like to capture the second Kira during this opportunity." Ryuzaki stated.

"I should head home, now, it's getting late." Raito said after a few more minutes.

Matsuda got up and walked him to the front of the hotel, Ryuzaki watched them through the window, but I wasn't interested in whatever he was waiting for.

"I'm going to get some sleep." I said, though it was a lie, and walked to my room.

"Nothing suspicious about Matsui having a girlfriend..." I muttered to myself, why had I said that? "Idiot." I insulted myself. I know that's going to come back to haunt me. Why had I said it anyway?

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**author's note: **late again! But this time I have an excuse! My computer has three viruses and six corrupted files that I have to take care of now, so ha! Valid excuse in my book. Anyway, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	55. Chapter 55

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 55**

**Caught**

Just as the diary said, Matsuda, Raito and I went to spend the day in Aoyama on the 22nd. I was expecting to be alone with the two of them, but Raito had already arranged to have that plan backfire.

"Taro, Yumi... these are my friends from school." Raito said, introducing us to a group of students, there were seven of them, ten counting Raito, Matsuda, and I.

"H-hi, guys..." Matsuda stuttered, he was just as surprised as I was that Raito had brought friends.

"So these are my cousins, Taro and Yumi." Raito introduced us, "this is their first time in Tokyo, and they wanted to check out all the sights with us."

I was impressed, annoyingly enough, it was a good move to bring these kids with him. It meant that the second Kira's shinigami wouldn't be able to tell who Ryuk was attached to if it was the kind to help out the human owner.

"And Taro's also looking for a girlfriend, so if anyone wants to volunteer..." Raito joked. The group laughed, and I did too. I would have to keep my eyes open, but there was no reason I couldn't treat this like a day off.

"Hey... Raito..." Matsuda protested.

The group started walking down the street, I took note of all the security cameras that Watari had placed in the area, I hadn't been able to help set them up because I couldn't be seen around here doing surveillance work before today.

Something caught my eye inside a small café, but as I turned to see what it was, I felt something tap my shoulder. I had to turn away from the café to see what it was. Matsuda was withdrawing his hand from my shoulder as I turned to face him.

The thing in the café could have been important, or just a trick of the light, but I wouldn't be able to tell until I got a good look at it. What did Matsuda want?

"What is it, Taro?" I asked politely, if he answered quickly I should be able to see what the thing was.

"Uh... well, it's about what you said a few days ago, about me having a girlfriend... did you mean it?" he asked.

What was I suppose to say? There could only be two answers, and only one of them was honest. It was right then that I noticed one of Ryuzaki's cameras, it had a perfect view of my face.

"Sorry, Taro, you're really nice, and probably a great guy to go out with, but I was only joking when I said that." I answered, I tried to be nice about it, he looked depressed.

"Oh... I see, sorry I asked..." he said looking down at the ground.

Oh man...

"Well, I'm sure you're a really great guy... I just..." I felt like I was repeating myself, he suddenly looked up hopefully. Uh-oh.

"Wait, so does that mean you'll go out with me? Not as a boyfriend, but on a date?" he asked, he was turning pink.

"Uh..." what was I going to say?! I couldn't say no, well he was nice... "sure. Why not? It could be fun." I answered, but I couldn't help looking up at the security camera, that I knew Ryuzaki would be watching through.

"Really? That's great! Uh, I mean, how about tomorrow night? We can have dinner and... yeah." he seemed really excited, which gave me the annoying feeling that he had been planning this for a while, but it wasn't like I had anything better to do, in fact getting out of the hotel would be great.

"Sure, tomorrow sounds good." I said, I could see him radiating with joy at my reply.

"Hey Yumi, Taro, what are you doing?" one of Raito's friends asked, the group had moved a way's ahead while Matsuda and I had been talking. We caught up with the group and kept walking.

I looked into the window of the café, but whatever I had seen before was gone, hopefully it had just been an innocent bystander...

The rest of the day passed without anything interesting to report, Raito seemed rather persistent about going to some club called the Note Blue, it was probably where the second Kira was supposed to be, but no one with a shinigami was there.

Once the sun started setting, our group broke up and we all headed home until the 24th, Matsuda insisted in giving me a ride back to the hotel, and I had no choice but to accept.

The task force wasn't meeting at the time, so as I walked in door, the only one there was Ryuzaki.

"So, you're going on a date with Matsui-san?" he asked, I turned red at the question, though I had already assumed he knew. Even without sound, I had been facing the camera when he had asked me.

"Yeah, I am." I answered. I wondered how he felt about it at first, but then I decided I didn't care. "Tomorrow night."

"I see." he said, he wasn't facing me.

I crossed the room and sat down on the couch next to him. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I don't know." I answered, partly because I really didn't and partly because I had a paranoid hunch that Watari would set up cameras around wherever it was.

He didn't say anything else, I got bored after a few minutes of silence, and went to my room.

Matsuda is a really nice guy, the only problem with dating him was that I didn't really see him as more then a friend, yet I still waited in front of the hotel the next night for him to pick me up.

"Hi." I said as I climbed into his car, this may sound strange, but I had never been in the front seat of a car before.

"Hi." he said back, turning pink as he watched me sit down next to him. This could be a long night, but he was a nice guy, I should try to have fun.

He didn't drive for very long, the restaurant he brought me to wasn't far, though it was fancy looking, and I wished for a moment that I had worn something more formal then jeans.

"Reservations for two under Taro Matsui." he said to the receptionist as I looked around. He was using his fake name even while booking a table at a restaurant.

The room was dim, and warm, there were potted plants that separated the booths along the walls, and dark wood tables filled the spaces in the center of the room. The place was packed full and I wondered how far ahead he had to call to get a table.

A waitress led us to a booth in the back then she handed us menus and left to seat more costumers. Matsuda sat across the table from me and we sat in silence as we looked over the menu.

It finally hit me that I was nervous about being there, it was my first date after all and I had no idea what to say to him to fill the silence.

I ignored the main corse section of the menu and went strait to the back to look at the desserts, a moment later the waitress came back to ask what we wanted.

Matsuda ordered some kind of soup and an unusually expensive bottle of wine, but I was torn between a large chocolate cake and a strawberry sundae, I asked Matsuda to help me decided and he said I could get both if I wanted, I was embarrassed about eating so much and chose the sundae so I wouldn't spend too much of his money, but I also ordered a chocolate milkshake.

"You eat like Ryuzaki, Yumi." he laughed once the waitress had left.

I laughed too. "No one's told me that before." I smiled, that was probably because no one besides Ryuzaki and Watari had ever seen me eat.

Once we had ordered, conversation seemed to come quite easily, Matsuda had an abundance of jokes to tell, and we laughed a lot, by the time the waitress returned with the food we had both laughed so much that I was grateful for something to distract myself long enough to breath a little.

Of course I ate the sundae and drake the milkshake so fast that I got a brain freeze which made us both laugh more.

After dinner, we got back in his car and he drove me back to the hotel.

"I had a great time." I told him, smiling, I couldn't remember why I had been so worried in the beginning.

"Me too." he agreed cheerfully.

"See you tomorrow." I said.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." he smiled, and drove off as I walked back to the room.

As the elevator reached my floor I remembered why I had been uneasy about the date.

Ryuzaki.

"How was it?" he asked as I entered the room. I wasn't sure if he really cared or if he just wanted to remind me that he was there.

"It was fun." I said, being back in the room with him made it hard to continue with my good mood, "we went to dinner, and talked, he's really funny."

"_Hmm_." he mumbled, I didn't know why he suddenly seemed different.

Wait... something dawned on me and I smiled at the thought. "Are you jealous?" I asked, stepping over toward him, he looked at me.

"No, I just wanted to know." he said flatly. I didn't buy it.

"Then why are you watching the Aoyama videos?" I asked, though that could have had nothing to do with it.

"I wanted to see your reaction when he asked you." he answered.

"Didn't you see my reaction when we were there?" I asked, I knew he had been watching the cameras on that day.

"No, I was watching Yagami-kun at the time." he said, eating a chocolate from a box on the table.

"Wait, then how did you know he even asked me?" there was no way he could tell just because we had fallen behind.

"Matsui-san asked me, a few days before, if you were seeing anyone." he answered flatly, not even looking at me.

I took a seat on the couch next to him and ate a few chocolates from the box. "And you said no?" obviously.

"That was the honest reply." true. But that didn't mean he had to say it to anyone who asked.

"Why did he even ask you, anyway?" I questioned, eating another chocolate.

He eyed me skeptically. That had been one of the dumbest questions I'd ever asked him, obviously if I was seeing someone he would know. No worse, if I was seeing someone, it would most likely be him. "Never mind."

This conversation was getting annoying, maybe I had been wrong about Ryuzaki being jealous, after all if Matsuda had asked him about me a few days before, then he must have been completely fine with me dating him, or he would have lied. He lied a lot after all.

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**author's note: **ok! Saturday chapter, I had nothing to do today so I decided to write something. But I haven't slept in about 72 hours, which means it probably isn't as well thought through as some of the others. Oh well. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	56. Chapter 56

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 56**

**Stuck**

"The 22nd in Aoyama, 24th in Shibuya, so far no evidence that anything happened. The only thing left in the diary is the 30th at the Tokyo Dome..." Aizawa read from the police reports, they were accurate nothing out of the ordinary had happened on the 22nd or the 24th.

Still, there was no way that the second Kira was stupid enough to actually go to the Dome. That was just insane, they'd be caught for sure.

"Ryuzaki, Sakura Tv has received a message from the second Kira. The post mark is the 23rd." Watari said through the laptop on the table, what could the second Kira want now?

"Again?!" Yagami-san asked.

"I'll send you the file over this computer first." Watari told us, then he linked the video through the laptop.

"_I was able to find Kira._" the second Kira's voice said through the screen. "_People at the Tv station, policemen, thank you all very much._"

No way. The second Kira couldn't have found Raito, wait, what if it was that thing I thought I saw in that café on the 22nd? It did seem larger then a person, but I had only caught a glimpse of it. Though it was the only unusual thing I had noticed...

"'found him?' this is bad!" Aizawa exclaimed.

"Yes... so Kira and the second Kira have joined forces..." Yagami-san muttered.

"We can't be sure they are together just yet." Ryuzaki disagreed, "until now, the second Kira has talked about wanting to meet Kira. Now he mentions 'finding him.' it is possible that he has merely located Kira, and hasn't contacted him yet."

"I think we can say that at least up to the 23rd, they have not joined forces. If they had, I doubt that Kira would have the second Kira tell us that he 'found him'. At this point, the police will have to send out a message directly to the second Kira..." Ryuzaki decided.

"Message?" Matsuda repeated.

"Yes. We have the police offer the second Kira leniency in exchange for the identity of Kira. This will be even more effective if Kira doesn't know who the second Kira is yet." Ryuzaki explained. "Asahi-san, would it be possible to offer the second Kira immunity in exchange for information leading to the capture of Kira?"

"He's killed at least eight innocent people that we know of... we can't..." Yagami-san answered.

"Then we'll remain vague about that and offer as much leniency as we can... how about that he'll be treated like a hero and the police will not come after him?" Ryuzaki suggested.

"I want this as soon as possible. It's 7:25 pm right now... prepare something to run on every station at 8:55." Ryuzaki ordered.

"Yes, understood." Yagami-san agreed.

"Um, Ryuzaki?" I cut in, "you do realize that this entire plan is based on how spineless or devoted the second Kira is, right? And what about if this doesn't work, it could show Kira that it's not too dangerous to approach the second Kira, because she's loyal enough to keep his identity a secret."

"_Hmm_, you have a point. But it's still worth a try, after all, the second Kira might be spineless." Ryuzaki said. I wasn't going to argue.

"_But if Kira doesn't know who you are yet, then there's still time. You must not get close to Kira out of curiosity. If you contact Kira, you will only be used and killed. Kira is a mass murderer, you must not help him._" the police message said that night, it was around the part about contact that I realized the real flaw in this plan.

If the second Kira didn't think through their actions, then they would see this video as initiative to reveal themself to Kira.

"_What you must do now is think of the value of human life and atone for your crimes by revealing what you know to the police._"

"Ryuzaki, I'm going out far a while." I said and left the room, if the second Kira knew who Raito was, then they would probably try to see him after this video, which meant that I had to head them off.

"_And save the world from the terror of Kira..._"

It took me a while longer then I would have liked to get to Raito's house, though there was no particular reason for the delay. When I did get there it was almost eleven thirty, I climbed up the grate with the vines to look in his window, but when I got close enough to hear I could tell I was too late.

"...dating other girls?" a high pitched voice asked, I couldn't see who it was without being seen, not like it would matter even if it was the second Kira.

"Pretty much..." Raito replied.

"**No way!!**" the girl shouted, she was one of the first people I knew of who had been given the choice of whether or not her boyfriend was going to cheat on her, or at least that was what I gathered from the five words I had heard.

"There's no way I'll stand for you seeing other girls. If I see that I'll kill them." the girl said, lowering her voice so that she sounded menacing. That was definitely the second Kira in–

_CRACK!!_

The wooden grate I had been standing on splintered under me and I was sent crashing back into the garden.

Embarrassing...

I looked up to see both Kiras watching me from the up stairs window. Raito was looking around in case anyone had heard the noise, then he turned back to look down at me and I could see his face was a mix of shock and annoyance, with the latter winning the inner struggle for facial dominance.

The second Kira was a young girl– take that Ryuzaki!– with blond hair black clothes and... wait...

I stood up, glancing over to my left and sighing with relief at the sight of the wooden garden stake that had nearly impaled me. Without another thought I climbed back up the grate– bypassing the hole I had created– and into the room.

I ignored Raito, he wasn't all that interesting anyway, and went strait over to the second Kira. I looked her over a few times, checking her shinigami eyes as well as her appearance then:

"Are you Amane Misa?" I asked, circling her like a vulture or a shark, though comparing myself to birds of pray and large carnivorous fish wasn't helping my confusion.

I stopped in front of her and took in her confused expression, but she wasn't looking at my face...

"What's your name?" she asked, ignoring the fact that I had asked first.

"Can't you see it?" I joked, I knew she couldn't, Raito's confused expression burned into my back, or at least, I thought it could have.

Then I realized that I shouldn't have known that she should have been able to see it, so I took mercy on her and helped with some of her confusion.

"I know about the death note." I told her.

"Misa, can you see her name?" Raito asked, he must not have figured it out by now because I could hear the smile in his voice, probably already opening the note.

"Hey, Raito, if she could see it why would she ask me what it was?" I asked, turning to face him, his smile faded.

Amane shook her head to answer his question. I walked over to the white boney shinigami standing behind Amane Misa. It eyed me with confusion, probably because I was looking right at it.

"I'm Yumi." I said, holding my hand out to it.

It didn't take my hand, instead it leaned over to look at me more closely. I withdrew my hand to avoid the awkwardness of it phasing through the shinigami's stomach, but other then that, I didn't flinch away from it like a normal person would have.

"Yumi?" it asked, "is that your real name?"

"No." I answered flatly, that wasn't anything new to me and by now I was used to people asking me about it.

"Then what is it?" the shinigami asked, it was obviously wondering if I was hiding my name somehow.

"I don't have one." I said.

I heard Raito drop something.

I turned to look at him, he had one of the classic 'what the hell?!' looks on his face that normally accompanies large fiery explosions. I smirked a bit.

"I'm Rem." the shinigami said once it had gotten it's answer.

"Oh hey, Amane, how did you get your death note?" I asked, suddenly remembering the confusion I had felt over not sensing her death note at first. I had a theory, but I needed to know for sure.

"From Rem." she answered as if it were obvious, and that much was.

"How, though?" I asked again.

"Well, she handed it to me..." Amane answered.

"Handed it right to you?" I asked, this was important.

"Yes." she said.

That made sense. The explosive red aura of a death note entering the human world only happens if the note is loose in the human world, that's why when a human picks a death note up off the ground and becomes the owner, the aura disappears.

If Shinigami ,Rem, had handed it right to Amane Misa, then it had never been loose and that was why I hadn't sensed the aura when it first showed up, because the note changed hands strait from Rem to Amane in the human world.

In short, the aura of a loose death note entering the human world had never showed up because Shinigami, Rem, had carried it here and handed it to Amane once she had arrived.

"So, can I see your shinigami?" Amane asked me suddenly, I looked up from my thoughts.

"I don't have one." I told her.

"But, don't all death note owners have shinigami with them?" she asked as if to prove me wrong.

How had she known I had a death note? Even Raito hadn't figured that out, sure I knew about them, but I also climbed into the bedroom of Kira in the middle of the night, he could have told me.

"How do you know I have a death note?" I asked.

"I can't see your life span with the eyes." she stated.

"What does that have to do with it?" I asked, this was interesting. Ever since I had spoken to B in the hospital in LA two years ago, I had wondered why shinigami eyes couldn't see my life span, after a while I had just decided it had something to do with my namelessness, but if this girl knew the answer.

"Shinigami eyes can't see the life span of someone with a death note." she stated matter of factly. Knowing the answer that I hadn't must have made her feel smart or something.

"Oh. That makes sense." I agreed, "hey, I'd better get going, Ryuzaki will be wondering where I am. Maybe." I said.

It didn't matter if I said Ryuzaki, it was a fake name after all, he had tons of those.

I crossed over to the window and hoisted myself out.

"Bye, Ryuk. Good bye, Rem." I said as I began to climb down. "Nice to meet you Amane-san!" I shouted back up from the bottom, then walked away.

At least I had learned some interesting stuff, and I knew everything about the second Kira that Raito did, now. And as a bonus, the only time I had lied all night was when I had said that Ryuzaki would be worried. That meant that I was getting the hang of the honesty thing now.

All in all, it was a good night.

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**author's note: **started late, sorry. So now Raito knows about the no name thing. Lot of good it'll do him though. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	57. Chapter 57

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 57**

**Irony**

Out of all the people in the world that could have been the second Kira, the model ,Amane Misa, wound up with the death note.

What are the odds?

But on the bright side, if Amane Misa was Kira, that meant the Ryuzaki wouldn't be able to date her– no that's not right, the real bright side is that she's not very smart, so she wouldn't be able to do much on her own and Raito will have limits on how much he can tell her without looking suspicious.

I sat on the floor by Ryuzaki's chair, we were both watching the tv screen as the door opened.

"Hello." Raito said as he and Matsuda walked into the hotel room.

"Raito-kun, you've come at a good time." Ryuzaki greeted him, "we just received a video message from the second Kira."

"Again? That was fast..." Raito responded, he seemed only slightly interested in this development, I guessed that was because the message was premeditated.

"Yes, it says this will be the final one..." Ryuzaki informed him as he reached for the remote.

He started the video as the task force watched the screen.

"_I have decided to not contact Kira. I thank the police for warning me. But I will help Kira and rid the world of evil until Kira accepts me. I will first pass judgement on the criminals that Kira hasn't yet punished. And then I will spread this power to those who deserve it, and make the world a better place._" the video said, it was by far the shortest video of the lot.

"Seeing this..." Ryuzaki began as he stopped the video, "makes me feel that Kira and the second Kira have joined forces..."

"Why do you think so?" Raito asked, this probably wasn't part of his plan.

"You didn't feel it? I figured you'd get the same impression I did, Raito." Ryuzaki mentioned.

I reached for one of the doughnuts on the table, it was covered in chocolate...

"First, after wanting to meet Kira that much, the sudden one-eighty. Also..." Ryuzaki explained as he also grabbed a doughnut. "The thing about passing judgement on criminals... Kira hasn't, in order to be accepted why wasn't this done before? He just didn't think to do it? Most likely, the person was told by Kira to do it."

"And Kira ordered that their cooperation be kept secret." he finished.

"I see..." Raito agreed, "if that's true, then Kira's acting without thinking very much."

"Yes. Was the situation one where he wasn't able to put much thought into things...? or does he want us to know that they have joined forces to see how we'd react? Since this is a serious blow to us. Though this makes it even less likely that Raito-kun is Kira." Ryuzaki decided.

"What do you mean, Ryuzaki?" Yagami-san asked, he was ready to jump at a chance to clear his son.

"If Raito-kun was Kira, then I think he would have the second Kira threaten me to appear on Tv again, instead of sending a message like this... if we don't know if they're working together, then we'd just assume it was only the second Kira's doing. The second Kira could just say "I cancelled this the first time because Kira told me to. But now I no longer think that warning came from Kira himself" or something like that." Ryuzaki answered.

"Ryuzaki..." Raito spoke up.

"Yes?" Ryuzaki answered.

"I wouldn't do that if I were Kira." Raito said.

"Why not?" Ryuzaki asked.

"If you're L, then I know L's personality. No matter the treat, there's no way L would appear on Tv. And there's no way he'd let someone else take his place. You would definitely think of a way out of it." Raito stated.

Raito was right about one thing: L wouldn't let anyone else take his place. But I think if it came down to it, he would go on Tv himself to save other people's lives. He wasn't a coward, and he wouldn't let innocent people die for him.

"_Heh, _can't get anything by you..." Ryuzaki admitted, though he was wrong about that.

"Raito..." Yagami-san protested. "Even if you're just making a point, stop saying things like "if I were Kira..." even though I know you're not Kira, it doesn't sit very well with me."

"Yeah... sorry, Dad." Raito answered, "but I want to be honest with Ryuzaki..." Liar "... in order to solve this case as soon as possible and clear my name. I only say things like that because I'm not Kira... you worry too much, Dad."

"Well, you're right but..." Yagami-san began.

"Yes... Raito-kun isn't Kira..." Ryuzaki stated. I looked up at him, how could he say that? "Or rather, I don't want Raito-kun to be Kira. Because..."

Because? Because why? I wanted to tell him that Raito was Kira, before he got too comfortable with the idea that he wasn't.

"...Raito-kun is my first ever friend." Ryuzaki finished.

I stood up silently and backed away a bit, no one seemed to notice, they all seemed too shocked by what Ryuzaki had said.

"Yeah.. You're a good friend to me too, Ryuzaki..." Raito agreed.

"Thanks." Ryuzaki said without turning around.

"I miss you at school. I'd like to play tennis with you again." Raito kept going. But he was lying... Ryuzaki had to know that he was lying! Didn't he...?

"Yes. Same here..." Ryuzaki said, looking over his shoulder at Raito, no, at Kira... and... smiling... he never smiled, never, maybe Raito was his first friend.

I went to my room, no one heard me, and no one saw... I closed the door behind me and leaned back against the wood, I could still hear snatches of the conversation but I wasn't able to make sense of it. I was too busy not crying to pay attention.

A few moments later the door to the hotel room opened and closed, Raito must have gone home. The clack of the door seemed to eat away at the only strength I had left, I lost my grip on the door and fell to my knees in front of it as tears began to fall.

After a few seconds I was sobbing on the floor. I felt stupid, crying over this, so to make the situation even minutely better I climbed onto the bed and sobbed into the pillows, this wasn't a big shock, I had always assumed that he didn't really consider me more then someone to help him with his cases, but having that suspicion confirmed still felt like a hard punch in the stomach.

Maybe I shouldn't let Ryuzaki know who Kira was, maybe I should let his "friend" tell him.

Then there was that one issue that I had always seemed to have with people showing up at the exact moment you don't want to see them. I knew it was him opening the door without turning around.

"Yumi?" he asked, I hadn't turned the light on in my room so the yellow light of the main room poured through the doorway casting a bent man's shadow across the bed. "Yumi, is something wro– "

"Go away!!" I shrieked, throwing one of the pillows at him.

He sidestepped to the left as the pillow flew past him and through the open door to the main room, over his shoulder I could see Matsuda look into my room in concern.

However in the process of turning around to throw the pillow at him, the tears still streaming down my face caught the light. I could tell by the look on his face that Ryuzaki wasn't going to leave me alone until he found out why I was crying.

"Yumi, what's the matter?" he asked, trying to step closer to me.

"What's the matter? _What's the matter?! _Your "first ever friend" that's what's the matter!!" I shrieked, throwing another one of my pillows at him, he stepped to the right and avoided it. "Yagami-kun is your first friend, so what does that make me?! Just some girl?! Just one more person _to use on a case?!_"

I had started with four pillows, and I had thrown two, which meant I had two shots left before I would have to think of a new plan of action.

"Yumi, I didn't mean..." he started, but I was faster.

"What? You _LIAR!!_ Of course you meant it, you smiled, Ryuzaki! You never smile!" I shouted throwing my third pillow at him, he didn't move that time he just let it hit him. "Yumi, I'm– "

"Oh no, Ryuzaki, don't tell me you're sorry..." my eyes widened with exaggerated shock, "you can't be_ sorry_... you're never sorry for real, but I've let you feed me that line for _years!_ You've told me you're sorry so many time without meaning it, that I use it to tell when you're _not sorry_!"

I crawled off the bed and stood, tear soaked, a few feet in front of him.

Yagami-san had joined Matsuda in watching the fight through the door.

"Tell me what I am, Ryuzaki! Tell me if I mean anything at all to you!" I screamed, he seemed shocked beyond words.

"I... I..." he tried to say.

"You... you... I don't care! _I'm_ still waiting for an answer! I've been waiting for years now, for that answer, Ryuzaki!" I took a step closer and shouted that right in his face.

He said nothing. He just looked me in the eye and stayed silent, that jerk, he didn't even have the guts to tell me that I was a tool to him, he just stared at me, what could that _poss_.._ib...ly_... I saw what he was doing.

Stupidly, my anger began to disappear, but with the absence of that anger all I had left was the pain that he had caused me. All there was left for me was to cry. And against my will , I did, I was already crying but the tears that were already streaming down my face seemed to come out faster.

It was like my body was trying to get as much water out of it before the end of the night, the tears blurred my vision which meant that I only barely made out Yagami-san pulling Matsuda out of the hotel room.

"Ryuzaki, I... I..." I had nothing to say through all the tears, stupid, stupid, stupid tears, there was no number large enough to measure how many stupid's that I wanted to put in that sentence.

He wrapped his arms around me, not in a romantic way– even in my weakened, tear-soaked state I would have shot him if he had tried anything right then– but in a way that helped me see that he cared at least a little.

"You... you..." he whispered in my ear. But his voice made the word sound different. When he said it, there was no anger, there was no pain... it was calming and comforting to here _him_ say it... but that made me cry more.

"You... jerk... how dare you... do this to me..." I choked out between sobs. There were a few nasty adjectives that I could have added but I didn't feel like applying them at the moment.

"Yumi, I–"

I cut him off. "If the next word in that sentence is "sorry" then save your breath, I won't believe you anyway." I said. My anger was flashing in and out of existence like the headlights of a car as the alarm goes off.

"I lied." he whispered. Big surprise.

"Well, thanks for clearing that up." I said as I tried to pull away from him. The jerk.

"No, not to you." he tried to clarify, I wasn't listening. "Raito-kun isn't my first friend, Yumi." he finished in a rush as I tried to kick him in the shin.

"Oh yeah? And why should I believe you? You've lied to me before, there's loads of stuff that you never bothered to mention to me." the anger was back.

He pulled me away from him, but didn't let go of me. I was forced to look up at his face in order to distract myself long enough to stop the sobs, or the noise at least, the tears wouldn't stop.

"I promise that– at the very least– I won't lie to you about lying to you." he told me.

It was a start, but I was intent on staying angry with him, so I wouldn't allow myself to see it that way.

"I still don't–" I started but I was cut off... though not with words...

I felt my unstable emotions had some part in why my brain was working too slow to react in time, but whatever the reason I couldn't move fast enough to stop him.

He leaned in and kissed my cheek– ok, no– he kissed the waterfall of tears streaming down my left cheek. But it had the same effect.

He got three seconds to move his left hand to wipe the tears from my right cheek– lot of good it did– as he kissed my left, and move his right arm to my lower back, before all the cells in my body decided to go for coffee at the same time and I lost the ability to stand up.

My brain stopped working and the few muscles I was using to stand gave out, sending me falling to the floor. I would like to say that I didn't lay there like and idiot at his feet, but that would be a lie.

I just lay there on the floor, blinking through the tears– which had mysteriously stopped coming– as Ryuzaki knelt down next to me.

"Perhaps that was the wrong thing to do..." I heard him mutter.

I felt so stupid that I couldn't help but laugh. He must have noticed me laughing because he smiled a bit... _smiled_... at me...

He held out his hand and helped me up. I wasn't angry anymore, all I could do was wonder why a kiss on the _cheek_ had caused such a violent reaction. Ryuzaki must have been confused too, because he didn't make any stupid comments about the reason.

"I am sorry." he said after a moment of silence.

"I don't believe you." I said, pretending that I was still angry.

He leaned closer.

"Ok, no I believe you. You're sorry." I stammered as I tried to back away. I had only gotten a foot away when I hit the edge of the bed and was forced to sit back on the mattress.

Ryuzaki blinked in confusion at my hasty retreat, then came and sat on the bed next to me.

"Are you still angry?" he asked, wrapping one arm around me as we sat there.

"Yes." I lied, though my tone made it obvious that he was forgiven.

"Is there anything I can do to be worthy of forgiveness?" he asked, mockingly.

"Well..." I thought, playing with his shirt, "you do owe me a motorcycle." I reminded him.

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**author's note: **ok, late again... sorry if that got kind of boring near the end. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	58. Chapter 58

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 58**

**Abduction**

"Hair." Ryuzaki stated as he examined one of the many small bags of physical evidence on the table in the hotel room.

I suppose, that skipping the remainder of last night's events isn't fair and could cause problems in the future, so I'll explain– briefly– what had happened after I had reminded Ryuzaki of his debt to me, in a convenient flashback.

"_You really want a motorcycle?" he asked, though obviously if I didn't I wouldn't have brought it up again._

"_Yes, it would help so much with shopping and moving and other things." like spying on Raito... I told him firmly._

_He sighed, he must have considered the whole request a bad idea._

_He opened his mouth, probably to tell me something to that effect, but at that moment we simultaneously remembered the task force which had left to give us privacy in case the fight got violent._

_Ryuzaki went to tell them that the fight was over, while I stayed in my room and focused on wiping the remainder of my tears away. I still felt completely stupid about the whole situation and resolved not to get emotional over any more of Ryuzaki's lies._

_A moment later he returned and announced that the task force members had left the hotel, probably after a minute or two of waiting in the hall._

"_Sorry I made you look like an inconsiderate, lying jerk in front of the task force." I apologized flatly, as I finished drying my face at last._

_He gave me a look. I ignored him._

"_Since there's nothing else to do at the moment, would you like to go for a walk?" he offered._

"_Why not..." I agreed reluctantly and crawled off the bed to stand in the doorway by his side._

_He reached for my hand discreetly, and I moved it away just in time to show him that I wasn't going to let him push it._

_We walked out of the hotel and down the street in silence, neither of us had any idea what to say but then we passed a store._

"_Oh, Ryuzaki, that one!" I said pointing at a purple and silver motorcycle being displayed in the window. "It's perfect!" I sounded like I was asking for a puppy, but the large machine was quite appealing to me._

"_You really want a motorcycle?" he asked me again._

"_Yes, Ryuzaki, I really, really want one!" I answered, forcing my point home. "Please?" I begged, grabbing his shirt and bouncing with excitement. Which made me look even more like a five year-old asking her father for a puppy._

"_Not now." he answered, while trying to loosen my grip on his shirt._

"_What? Why not?" I asked angry with him for denying me what he now owed twice over._

"_Because the store is closed." he answered flatly._

_... he was right..._

"_Well, first thing tomorrow, then!" I ordered._

_He sighed. "Maybe." he said, his tone suggested that he would withhold it if I did or said anything stupid between now and then._

"_Thank you, Ryuzaki!" I shouted, hugging him._

_I really wanted one. After that, we decided to turn around and go back to the hotel it was past midnight so there wasn't much more to do outside. _

It was now that next day, still a bit early in the morning, but late enough to say that Ryuzaki had either forgotten about my motorcycle or lied about getting me one in hopes that I would forget.

"Snack crumbs." he said, holding up another bag. "Yagami-san." he said flatly, as he examined the bag. "If I die in the next few days, your son is Kira." I flinched, "More hair."

"Huh?! What are you saying all of a sudden, Ryuzaki?" Yagami-san asked in shock.

"If I die, I'm counting on you to keep things together. You can use Watari as you wish." Ryuzaki answered, I wondered what that meant for me. "If I die, the only one who will be able to get anything from Kira, meaning Raito-kun, will be you." he said to Yagami-san.

"Ryuzaki... when my son is here you state that he's mostly been cleared... just how deeply do you suspect him?! Give it to me strait!" Yagami-san demanded.

"Even I... don't know how I truly feel. This has never happened before... if Kira and the second Kira are now working together... I'm in big trouble. So it may be possible that I'm no longer able to think things through calmly." Ryuzaki said. He looked calm to me as he examined another bag.

"It's a fact that my suspicion of your son is logically a very low percentage. And I may be being insistent because there's just no other suspect... even so... if I'm killed now, then assume that your son is Kira_. _I will have Watari do the same." Ryuzaki ordered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Wait with Mogi-san!" I complained as I sat in the car a little while later. "Stay with the task force until you apprehend the suspect!" I mimicked his voice, "and whatever you do, don't come with me while I go get killed by Kira! That jerk!"

Mogi-san glanced at me from the driver's seat, the car was parked outside To-oh University along with all the other unmarked police cars.

We had ben following Amane Misa, on a hunch that she was the second Kira. Ryuzaki was an unnaturally good guesser, though he hadn't expected Amane to enter the campus of the university, just as he went to find Raito.

Idiot, the only reason that Amane would go near a school like To-oh was to visit her "boyfriend" who happened to be Kira! Ryuzaki was probably dead or dying already.

Well, no if he was dying I would have felt it, but he was still in an unmeasurable amount of trouble because of this.

"Uh... Yumi-san, are you alright?" Mogi-san asked, he sounded worried which lead me to notice how hard I had been gritting my teeth.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine..." I answered, crossing my arms as I loosened tension of my jaw. "I know he's doing something stupid!" I blurted out, "no, he's doing something perverted! I can tell, and when he comes back..." I didn't finish my threat.

Ryuzaki had told the task force and I to apprehend Amane Misa as soon as she and her manager were alone, we couldn't just grab her because we had to pretend that her manager was the one who had done something wrong.

So the task force as well as several police volunteers had followed her to a photo shoot near the university, meanwhile Ryuzaki went in to find Raito, probably to watch his reaction to her capture.

But as we were getting ready to take her in, she left the shoot alone– well actually Shinigami Rem was with her but that didn't count– and walked to To-oh while Ryuzaki was still there. So now, I was stuck waiting in a police car with Mogi-san while Ryuzaki tried not to die facing both Kiras.

And the worst part was, that he was apparently a fan of Amane, so being less then five feet away from her was going to get him killed just for being a pervert. And I couldn't help... I had to sit and wait for him to–

Amane and her manager walked out the front entrance of the university.

Ryuzaki had been lucky...

"Yumi-san, do you have your helmet?" Mogi-san asked as he put on a tinted helmet to hide his face from the second Kira, all the police officers were supposed to wear them, and I had one too just to satisfy Ryuzaki who was suddenly "concerned for my safety" yeah right, but he would have made me wait in the hotel room if I didn't wear one.

"Yep, let's go." I replied as I opened my door.

Yagami-san gave the signal and all the officers, and I, for lack of a better word, ambushed Amane and her unsuspecting manager.

At first they struggled, but as Amane was told her charges– suspicion of being the second Kira– she stopped fighting back and let the police blindfold her as well as handcuff her to one of the officers.

She was transported to somewhere secret, while her manager was brought to the police station under on charges.

Mogi-san pulled out his cell phone and called Ryuzaki. "Ryuzaki, we've apprehended Amane." he said.

I wanted to go on campus to meet up with him now that my job was done, but decided it was better to go with the task force, back to the hotel room and wait for him there.

I wondered if he had really done anything perverted while Amane was there, she was a suspect after all.

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**author's note: **late again, but this time I had to take pain pills which set my whole night off. Anyway sorry for the excuse, Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	59. Chapter 59

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 59**

**Confinement**

The evidence was scattered on the table in the hotel room, there was paper, small bags of hair, makeup, and thread and a few video tapes. The task force was sorting through the evidence while we waited for Ryuzaki to get back from To-oh.

I was sitting on the couch wondering what Raito was going to do, after all Amane had been caught and more evidence was surfacing as time passed, but he still hadn't killed her, though I suppose that killing her would show that he knew about her being caught, and because that information hadn't gone public it would narrow the suspects down to him.

"Oh Ryuzaki, we're uncovering more and more evidence." Aizawa said as Ryuzaki entered the hotel room.

"Watari, has she said anything?" Ryuzaki asked, ignoring Aizawa and walking over to the computer.

"No." Watari answered through the laptop, "Sorry, but nothing yet. She hasn't even complained about being restrained."

"All right, send the images this way." Ryuzaki ordered.

"Are you sure?" Watari asked, I wondered why he would hesitate.

"Just do it." Ryuzaki told him. The screen changed, Amane Misa was strapped to some kind of bar-structure, blind folded and wearing some kind of ripped white cloth strait jacket. She looked frightened, but wasn't crying or complaining about it, which made me wonder exactly how devoted to Raito she was.

"Whoa!" the task force members protested in unison. "Ryuzaki... this is..."

"She's been captured as the second Kira. What do you expect?" Ryuzaki reminded them. "If we had no evidence, it would be one thing."

"It's true... the finger prints don't match and it seems like the video equipment was disposed of, but we found the same type of paper as the diary, an express delivery stamp, the ink and components all match." Aizawa stated, "the pollen found in the adhesive of the envelope sent from Osaka matched the flowers growing around the apartment she lived at until April and is rare in the Kanto region..."

"And a ticket stub for the Tokyo-Nagano train from the day of when a tape was sent from Nagano. The security tapes should still exist for that day, I bet we'll find her if we view them. Kira didn't leave any evidence like that." Matsuda said.

"Yes, with all this physical evidence it seems pretty certain..." Yagami-san agreed.

"There's no mistake." Ryuzaki announced, "Now it's just... how did she kill? And does she know Kira? Who is Kira? We'll have to make her confess."

The way he said make was what bothered me, because there was a certain degree of force behind the word.

"Watari, take precautions but do whatever it take to just make her talk." Ryuzaki instructed.

"Ryuzaki!" I protested, but he ignored me.

"Yes." Watari agreed.

"And... Yagami-san... right now I have forbidden Raito-kun from coming in and out of here. But... the next time... I believe he will be called in as a prime suspect. Please be prepared for that." Ryuzaki said as he sipped some coffee.

The entire task force was silent, so Ryuzaki continued as though he needed to justify the statement.

"Amane moved to Tokyo in April and soon became close to Raito-kun. Her parents were killed by a burglar and Kira killed the burglar. And Raito-kun possessed a cell phone just to call her with. Not that that's rare among lovers, but I doubt that a prideful guy like Raito-kun would accept such a thing." Ryuzaki explained.

I blushed a bit, Ryuzaki was the only one in the world who knew my cell phone number, which wasn't the same thing but it was close...

"The only thing in his favor is that I would think Raito-kun, if Kira, would kill Amane to keep her from talking. But she's still alive. Though I would assume he knows that if he killed her while this few people know of her arrest, then it would only deepen my suspicion against him." Ryuzaki decided.

I sat quietly in the back of the room, Shinigami, Rem, was standing behind Amane, I wondered briefly if Kyu would have acted as Rem did in this situation, but that made me depressed and I tried to think about something else.

The task force members didn't leave the hotel room for three days, unless they were sent to buy food. Amane was impressive to say the least, she still hadn't said anything even through three days of starvation and torture.

I felt horrible about being a part of this and repeatedly asked Ryuzaki to stop, but he wouldn't listen to me, and after the fiftieth time I asked, he sent me out of the room for a while so he could think, once I came back in I stopped asking, in fact I stopped talking to him, which lead directly to the task force taking turns doing the shopping.

"Ryuzaki. Amane is speaking." Watari said at last, I leapt from my place in the corner and crossed the room to stand by the computer.

"Visuals and audio now!" Ryuzaki ordered as the rest of the task force gathered around the tv.

"I... can't take it anymore." Amane said, "Kill me!" she ordered. "Kill me. Hurry up and kill me."

"You said she hasn't had water in three days, right...?" Aizawa asked.

"That's too much for a twenty-year old girl... she must be at her limit..." Matsuda agreed.

Ryuzaki pushed the button at the base of a computer microphone on the desk. "Misa Amane, can you hear me?" he asked.

"Yes..." Amane answered weakly. "Please... kill me now..." she begged, but not to Ryuzaki, she had never been asking Ryuzaki...

"Does this mean that in the face of overwhelming evidence, you are acknowledging that you are the second Kira and giving up?" Ryuzaki asked, I couldn't take it, all he wanted was a confession from her that she was a murderer, but this whole thing was too much for anyone to take!

"Ryuzaki, stop it!" I ordered, he didn't care. I wanted to hit him, no worse then that, this was just cruel.

"No, I don't know anything about that..." Amane answered, "I can't take this... I'd rather be dead... now! Hurry! Kill me! You can do it instantly, right?!" she cried, shaking.

"Misa... do you mean..." Rem asked, finally getting the message.

"Yes, kill me." Amane answered.

"You want me to kill you?" Rem asked, she looked pained by the idea.

"Yes... kill me..." Amane repeated. "I can't take it... kill me."

"If I have to kill you, then I'll kill Raito Yagami, too. This is all his..." Rem began.

"No... no... kill me..." Amane begged.

I hated how many similarities there were between Amane and I, and devotion like that to a person was one of them.

"Ryuzaki! That's enough! Let her go!" I shrieked, I was actually crying now, which earned sympathetic glances from the task force members. But I only got a questioning look from Ryuzaki.

"Why does this bother you so much?" Ryuzaki asked, coldly.

"Ryuzaki, she's just a young girl, she can't take–" I pleaded, but I was cut off.

"Just a girl? Aren't you the one who always pushes the fact that men and women are equal?" he asked. I stuttered, I was always saying that, but now that he was using it against me I was ready to give that ideal up.

"Ryuzaki..." I begged, dropping to the floor and sobbing into my palms, I couldn't watch this anymore... it was too much.

"I was supposed to die that day anyway..." Amane said through the screen.

I froze mid sob.

"She must mean when the burglar killed her parents..." Aizawa suggested.

"Poor girl, I feel sorry for her..." Matsuda said.

"I would die happy now... while I'm still young and pretty... kill me..." Amane begged Rem.

I turned and ran from the room, I knew where Amane was being held, but I knew I wouldn't make it in time, so instead I ran for Raito's house.

If Rem was the kind of shinigami I thought she was, then she wouldn't kill Amane, and because of that, there was only one other way to help, which meant that Rem would convince Amane to give up the death note, and after that, Rem would no doubt take the note to Raito, I wanted to head her off.

But I didn't want to stop her from doing what she wanted with the death note, all I wanted was to ask her a question...

Misa Amane had Shinigami eyes.

"_...and when the numbers say you're going to die, you die." B finished explaining, I was sitting in the white hospital room talking to him the day after he had been caught. He was critically burned but visitors were allowed._

"_And, is there any way to live longer then the numbers say you will?" I asked, he was probably only answering my questions because having the answers made him feel better then me, but I didn't mind, I was learning a lot from him._

"_No, once the numbers say you die you die. No way out of it." he repeated, it was a morbid thought that life was set in stone like that._

"_But..." he suddenly thought through his words again, looking me over curiously, "you didn't die..." he said quietly._

"_What do you mean?" I asked._

_He cocked his head to the side, then winced as scabs cracked._

"_I saw you before... and I remember thinking that you would die soon. Just five years from when I saw you first." he said. "But you didn't..."_

_I saw him when I was eleven, I was sure it was him, which meant that five years later would be when Kyu saved my life._ _So did that mean that a death note could stop a death that was fated to happen?_

"_I know it was you." he said, risking the pain of his burned body to bring his thumb to his mouth and bite his nail thoughtfully, he was so much like L, even if it was because B copied him. "You had the same necklace." he finished._

"_B..." I started._

"_Beyond." he corrected me._

"_Right, Beyond, can I get you anything?" I asked, I felt a sudden urge to help him, even a little._

"_Do you have strawberry jam?" he asked, nibbling his thumb then wincing again._

"_I'll be right back." I told him, standing up._

If the numbers thatshinigami eyes saw told when someone was supposed to die, then Amane who had the shinigami eyes, would know that if she was supposed to die a certain day, she would be dead.

But, with the amount a devotion Rem showed her, there was a chance that she had been saved by a shinigami like I had.

Rem walked up the street, she seemed so focused on what she was doing that the pedestrians that passed through her as she went didn't seem to bother her.

"Rem!" I called once she had turned onto a side street.

She looked at me as I ran to catch up with her.

"What do you want?" she asked venomously.

"What did Amane mean when she said she was meant to die?" I asked, not wasting time.

Rem would have raised an eyebrow if she had any, apparently people didn't ask her that on a daily basis.

"Misa was fated to be killed by a man a few months ago, but her life was saved by a shinigami who had fallen in love with her." Rem answered.

"A shinigami... who had loved her... did they die?" I asked.

Rem seemed surprised by the question, as though I had discovered some important secret.

"Yes, any shinigami who loves a human, and uses a death note to save that human from death will die." she said.

"Only if the shinigami loves the human? Not if they're just friends?" I asked, starting to shake a bit.

"The shinigami must _love_ the human and be willing to die for them." Rem stated.

I put my hands to my mouth in shock.

Kyu... had_ loved_ me...

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**author's note: **ok, this one's late too, and I'm out of excuses so I'll blame it on motivation problems, oh well I'll still up date every day, I promise. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! (Oh, and just in case anyone cares, Advil pain-meds suck_ :P_)


	60. Chapter 60

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 60**

**Joined**

I walked back to the hotel room in a daze, there was too much going on in my head for me to consider talking to Ryuzaki again.

What was most annoying was that I could no longer count on one hand the similarities between Amane and I. The most prominent of which was the fact that a shinigami had died to save both of us.

I opened the door to the hotel room and saw the task force standing around the laptop which was still streaming the video and audio of Amane's torture.

"I she dead yet?" I asked, it was the first time that genuine hatred had been present in my voice while speaking to Ryuzaki.

"No, just unconscious." Ryuzaki answered flatly.

I couldn't believe how calm he was being about torturing another person for days until they fell unconscious after begging for death! I had entered the hotel intending to go strait to my room without saying anything to Ryuzaki or the task force, but his monotone voice made that impossible.

I crossed the room and stood directly between Ryuzaki and the laptop, he ignored me completely, probably thinking that if he didn't respond I would move out of his way.

I didn't. I seized the collar of his shirt and jerked it upward violently so that he was forced to look me in the eye.

"How can you be like that?! Ryuzaki, she's a human being, Kira suspect or not, and you're going to kill her!" I shouted in his face.

"I'm ninety-three percent certain that Amane Misa is the second Kira." Ryuzaki stated.

"That doesn't matter!" I cried as I slammed him back into the chair and pressed him against the back.

"She's just protecting him!" I shrieked.

"Protecting "him?" is "him" Kira?" Ryuzaki asked. He was so calm, he must have known that I wouldn't seriously hurt him no matter how angry I got.

"That doesn't matter, Ryuzaki!" I tried to cover as I realized my mistake. "What if she was going through this for you?! Would you still be this calm?!" I asked, trying to draw his attention away from my misstep.

"I am not Kira." he said.

"Well you're no better then Kira!" I shouted. "You have just as little regard for human life as he does!" that struck a chord with him. Just as Raito hated to be thought of on the same level as his victims, Ryuzaki hated to be considered no better then his suspects.

He rested his hand on the hand I had knotted in his shirt, though he made no attempt at loosening my grip on him. He looked down at the floor, his hair falling over his eyes.

The task force was still there, but they were so silent that a blind man wouldn't have noticed them.

"If I were Kira," he began, completely turning the tables on me. "Who would that make you?" he asked, my hand loosened on his shirt, the brunt of my anger was gone as quickly as it had come.

That jerk, he knew what my answer would be.

"Amane." I said flatly, releasing his shirt and walking in silence to my room.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Mr. Stalker, please stop this. This is a crime. If you let me go, I won't tell anyone." Amane pleaded. "Mr. Stalker!"

"After regaining consciousness, she keeps repeating that..." Aizawa said.

"Does she really think we're going to buy the act?" Matsuda asked.

"Okay, then how about taking off the blindfold. I'd really like to see you." Amane tried.

I felt really sorry for her, the only reason I was still in the room was because I wanted to make sure she was ok. I hadn't spoken to Ryuzaki or the task force members since last night, and even now all I could do was sit on the couch and listen to her talk. She had obviously given up the death note, because she thought Ryuzaki was a stalker. Not that she was wrong...

"Matsuda-san, call Mogi-san." Ryuzaki requested.

"Huh? Oh... sure..." Matsuda answered as he dialed, he gave Ryuzaki a look which went unnoticed, Matsuda had tried the hardest to cheer me up after last night's argument, but I wasn't in the mood to be cheered up.

"When you apprehended Misa Amane, you did tell her that she was suspected as the second Kira?" Ryuzaki confirmed over the phone.

"I'll give you an autograph and shake your hand. Oh, I'll give you a kiss on the cheek. Come on, I won't run away." Amane continued to plead.

Ryuzaki turned on the microphone and spoke to Amane. "Misa Amane." he said, the scrambled voice must not have helped her stay calm.

"What, Mr. Stalker? You're going to let me go?" she asked.

"Before you went to sleep, you were almost completely silent before asking us to kill you. Yet now you're playing coy?" Ryuzaki asked.

"What are you talking about? You're the stalker who knocked me out and brought me here. What...? You want to play some kind of "examination" game...?" Amane asked.

"Why are you tied up there right now?" Ryuzaki asked, he was now catching on to what was happening.

"Huh?" came the response, "why...? maybe because I'm an idol? I've never heard of a stalker going this far though."

"Hey, Amane!!! stop messing around!!" Matsuda shouted into the mike.

"_Eek!_ I... I'm scared... please stop this..." Amane pleaded, "Let me go! Let me go..."

I rolled over on the couch to look at the backs of the task force, I couldn't see the computer screen.

"Oh yeah... the bathroom... I need to go..." she tried.

"It's only been four minutes since you last went to the bathroom, please hold it in." Ryuzaki answered.

"But that's the only time you untie me! Let me go! You get to see me pee again, isn't that what you want?! You pervert!!" Amane cried.

"At least someone sees it." I muttered to myself.

"Amane... let's seriously talk about what we were discussing before you passed out. Do you know Raito Yagami? Why did you approach him? We know you've met with him several times, you're going to keep denying that?" Ryuzaki questioned.

"Huh? Of course I know my boyfriend... but how did you know that? You're good. Though not as good as Raito." Amane answered.

I rolled my eyes, maybe we didn't have _that_ much in common.

"What's going on?" Matsuda asked.

Ryuzaki's cell phone rang, he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the number.

"It's Raito-kun." he muttered. "Turn off the visual and audio."

"Yes." Watari agreed and the sound of Amane's protests ceased.

"...yes...yes...yes...yes..." Ryuzaki said into the phone. "I understand. we're in K, room 2801."

"My son's coming?" Yagami-san asked.

"Yes." Ryuzaki said simply.

It didn't take long for Raito to get there, in fact it seemed like he was rushing, I checked to make sure he didn't have shinigami eyes before settling back onto the couch.

"Ryuzaki... as I said on the phone..." Raito began.

"Yes..." Ryuzaki said to have him continue.

"I might be Kira." Raito stated.

Yagami-san looked like he was having another heart attack.

"It can't be!! What are you saying, Raito?!" he cried, shaking Raito's shoulders. "Have you lost it?!! please snap out of it, Raito!!" he begged.

"What's going on? Answer me!" he shouted.

"Dad... if Ryuzaki is L, then he's unquestionably the best detective in the world." suck up. "If L has decided that I'm Kira, then I probably am." Raito said.

"Wh... what are you saying, Raito?!" Yagami-san asked.

"Yes, it's true... in my mind, Raito-kun is almost definitely Kira. And thus I'll probably be questioning him soon." Ryuzaki stated. "Raito-kun has extremely sharp insight and understands my way of thinking."

"The people that FBI agent Raye Penber was investigating before he died... people that went to Aoyama on may 22nd... and the person that second Kira suspect Misa approached after coming to Tokyo... it all points to me. If I was in L's position, I would conclude that I'm Kira too. This means... that while I have no consciousness of it, I might be Kira." Raito explained.

"Raito..." Yagami-san begged.

This "shinigami" word left by the criminal who was controlled by Kira... the same word appeared in the second Kira's message, too. I don't believe in Shinigami, but thinking about that and then having the world's best detective say that I'm Kira... I'm starting to not even understand myself... I'm afraid... what if I'm losing my mind?" Raito asked.

"I may not be conscious of it, but maybe when I go to sleep another version of me comes out and does the killings..." Raito suggested.

"That did not happen." Ryuzaki disagreed.

"What do you mean, Ryuzaki?" Raito asked.

"There was actually about five days when we had cameras installed in your room." Ryuzaki stated.

"Cameras...?" Raito asked, had he forgotten about them? No he must have been acting.

"Yes, you were sleeping normally at night..." Ryuzaki said flatly.

"You went that far... Ryuzaki...?" Raito asked grabbing the back of Ryuzaki's chair. "Then... during those five days I didn't act as a "shinigami"...?" he confirmed.

"Right... there unfortunately was no activity... since criminals died even when you didn't gain any information on them... my conclusion was not that you weren't Kira, but that you made no mistakes to reveal yourself as Kira." Ryuzaki stated.

"No mistakes as Kira... huh? That may be correct... but how...? what should I do...? so am I Kira, then? If I look at it objectively, it seems probable." Raito wondered.

"It can't be, Raito... you're thinking too much..." Yagami-san attempted.

"I have to be honest... sometimes I think that some serious criminals should be killed... I think any person who thinks that way could become Kira..." Raito continued.

"Raito... Yagami-san tried again to protest.

"It's true, Dad... and not just criminals. There are many people who deep inside it think would be better off dead..." Raito was forcing this, which meant he wanted to be convicted? The odds of him getting guilty and giving up were pretty low.

"Raito... that goes the same for me. I'm always thinking that some people should be dead. Most people are probably like that. But that doesn't mean you'd actually kill them, right?" Matsuda pointed out. "The criminals died even when you had no information on them. The cameras proved that. We watched you for five days, you couldn't be Kira..."

"N...no." Aizawa objected. "During that time we were low on members and only watched him in the house. We figured that would be enough but... it's not like we watched him 24 hours a day. He was at school and left freely whenever he wanted... if he figured out he was being watched, then there could have been a way for him to do the killing when he left the house."

"I really don't like where this is going but... fine..." Ryuzaki decided. "Raito Yagami will be restrained and placed under confinement for an undetermined amount of time."

"W...what...? but in that case..." Yagami-san stuttered.

"...If we're doing it, we're doing it right now. You will not be allowed to leave my sight before then." Ryuzaki said.

"Impossible... there's no way my son can be Kira... why should he..." Yagami-san protested.

"It's ok, Dad." Raito cut him off.

"Raito..."

"I'll do it. No, I want to. There's no way I'll be able to keep pursuing Kira if somewhere in my mind I suspect myself. I want to make this clear as soon as possible. This may take a while but it's probably the fastest way. No, this is the only way. But you have to agree not to let me out until you've determined for sure whether I'm Kira or not. No matter what I say, Ryuzaki." Raito said.

"I understand... but I can't even imagine how long it would take for my suspicion of you to dissipate. So be prepared for that." Rayzaki warned. "Yagami-san, can you come up with a reason why Raito-kun will be away from home for a while? You'll need to."

"But this is all so sudden..."Yagami-san protested. "Why should my son be put in a cell and..."

"Give it up, Dad." Raito interrupted again. "I need to do this for myself. And if I'm not Kira, I swear I'll catch the person who's caused this to happen to us, Dad. Kira needs information to do his killings... I'm certain of this fact. By being locked away and shut out from gaining information, I want to prove my innocense and chase after Kira."

"B... but what about collage?" Yagami-san attempted to come up with an excuse.

"At my level... I can miss a year or longer and still be fine, you know that, Dad. How about this as a reason? I'll call Mom and say that I've decided to live on my own with Misa, but my stubborn dad would be totally against it, so I'm going to be out of contact for a while. Then you just have to say something like "I'm disowning that ungrateful son!" Raito suggested.

"Are you serious... Raito?" Yagami-san finally asked.

"Yeah, by taking away my own freedom... I'll defeat the fear of Kira that dwells within me." Raito said with finality.

He was then handcuffed.

"Take it from here, Aizawa-san." Ryuzaki said.

"Yeah..." Aizawa agreed and lead Raito out of the room. Ryuk followed behind them.

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**author's note: **Late. Again. Sorry. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	61. Chapter 61

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 61**

**Switch**

"I wouldn't want to live in a place like this..." Ryuk commented from inside the cell, Raito sat silently on the bed. The cameras could see every inch of the small cell, which meant that there was no way for Raito to write names in the death note.

But, as interesting as this whole situation was, I had to get some fresh air.

I didn't tell anyone I was leaving the room– Ryuzaki and I still weren't speaking– but it was obvious that I wasn't there anymore.

I walked down that hall in the hotel and into the elevator, which seemed to open in the lobby a few seconds later, even though the room was on at least the twentieth floor. I didn't watch where I was going as I left the hotel and was crossing the parking lot.

But as I was about to walk out onto the sidewalk I was distracted by something parked in a far corner of the lot. I turned to face it, then crossed the lot rapidly to examine it more closely.

Sitting in front of me, sparkling in the sun was the purple and silver motorcycle that I had wanted, I couldn't help looking it over, after all a beautiful machine like that only came around once in a life time. Or sooner if a new shipment comes in.

I frowned at the bike, jealous of whoever owned it, then turned to walk back out of the lot. I didn't make it far because as I was turning something suddenly stood out to me.

There was a small piece of paper tied to the handlebars, I didn't really have the right to look at it but no one was around so I carefully unfolded the paper.

_Yumi,_

_Don't do anything stupid._

_Ryuzaki_,

I glanced at the bike, reread the note, then looked back at the bike. The keys were hanging from the handlebars, but had been covered by the note, probably so no one stole them.

I wasn't sure what to do, I looked at the note again. Then I realized that Ryuzaki had actually given me the bike.

I vibrated with joy, but held back the scream that would alert the task force to my discovery. Then I realized something else: I couldn't even ride a normal bike... that ruined my celebrating.

I searched all around the bike, hoping that Ryuzaki had known that and had left a manual or at least some notes on where to get one. But I found nothing. There was a helmet though. Which probably meant that he didn't want to kill me in a crash, but he must not have approved of me owning a motorcycle in the first place, so he had left no instructions on how to use it.

I leaned against the seat and sighed, of course I had read books with motorcycles in them, and I had seen Wedy ride one, but all that meant was that I could guess at how to make it move.

Oh well, I decided and got on the bike, I took the key off the handle bars and put it into the slot that must have been the ignition. I turned it to the right and jumped a bit as the bike roared to life under me.

That was a start but what do I do now?

Ok, in the books I read, there was something that had to do with your feet, that seemed like a good place to start, but before I did anything else, I put on the helmet.

I looked around the base of the bike for something that looked like it would make the bike move. The air was filled with the smell of gas by the time I found what must have been a kick start. I tried to start it but I wasn't strong enough, so I jumped in the seat and slammed all my weight down on the bar.

It worked, and I was lucky that I had been gripping the bike hard, because as soon as I hit the bar and felt it move under me, the bike shot forward at an alarming speed.

I had no idea how to stop it, so I held the handlebars tightly and attempted to turn it, I couldn't. I ducked down as the hotel rushed toward me, but then as I was about to hit the side of the building, the bike slowed almost to a stop.

I was still moving, so I didn't have time to investigate but I took a wild guess and gripped the handlebars tighter, my right hand gripped a metal bar against the handle and the bike slowed more.

"...Brake..." I mumbled as the bike stopped moving.

I can't use the word 'hummed' to describe the noises coming from the bike, but it wasn't roaring like it had been while it was moving. Alright, if that's the brake, then the bar that makes it go is probably on the other side.

I grabbed the bar on the left handle and held it tight against the handlebar, then I slowly released the brake, the bike didn't move, it continued to thunder under me.

"Clutch." I decided.

I had read about that, I experimentally loosened my grip and felt the bike move slightly forward. Then I tried to turn the handlebars to move away from the wall, I had to brace my feet against the ground to make it turn.

Then I tried to ease up on the clutch and moved at a more decent speed, out onto the road. I could barely control the direction that I was moving in, but because the bike was smaller then the cars on the road, I could stay out of direct traffic.

I took a few turns to practice steering then went back to the hotel and parked it where it had been. I took off the helmet and put the keys in my pocket, then walked into the hotel lobby and took the elevator to the twentieth floor.

I walked down the hall wondering if I really wanted to stay mad at Ryuzaki, but then I realized that he had been waiting to give me the motorcycle until he did something really horrible that could cause me to stay mad at him for a long time. Or at least that was more then likely to be the reason.

I opened the door, planning to tell him I was sorry, mostly because being angry at him was driving me insane, and he had stopped torturing her.

But I was distracted completely by the screne.

"Ryuzaki! Now you've lost it, what did Yagami-san do to wind up in confinement?!" I asked, Matsuda and Aizawa turned toward me.

"Yagami-san asked for confinement." Ryuzaki answered, not tearing his eyes from the screen.

"Why would he do that?" I asked him, I didn't believe him, but what could he have done?

"The chief was afraid of what he might do if Raito really is Kira." Matsuda explained.

"Oh... that makes sense." I allowed. The poor man, he was just unlucky it was really Raito's fault, Raito and the death note.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Mr. Stalker, I want to take a bath." Amane complained, "You know where I live, right? Bring me some new clothes."

"This is getting crazy..." Aizawa mumbled.

"I feel bad for the chief..." Matsuda agreed.

"What's happening, Ryuzaki? Have new criminals been announced these last few days that Kira would target?" Raito asked.

Some new criminals have been shown on the news... but none have been killed since you were put in confinement." Ryuzaki told him through the microphone.

"Nobody's been killed...? are you sure?" Raito asked, sounding worried.

"Man, I want an apple." Ryuk muttered to himself, I half considered giving him one, but it would look strange.

"Yes." Ryuzaki answered Raito's question flatly.

"I see... so then I really am Kira...?" Raito mumbled almost sounding depressed.

"It's only been three days... it may be a coincidence." Ryuzaki pointed out.

"Ryuzaki, what about Misa? Has she revealed anything that would help the investigation?" Raito asked.

"Raito-kun, you and Amane are being held as Kira and the second Kira. I cannot reveal that kind of information to you." Ryuzaki reminded him.

"You sure are strict. I'm doing this to help figure out the truth too, you know?" Raito argued.

I rolled my eyes at the comment. He was a liar, just ask Ryuk, the shinigami sitting next to him in the cell.

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**author's note:** Ok, I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday, but I went through my first serious writer's block ever and couldn't get a chapter out. On the positive side, I'm going to Anime Expo 2008! I can't wait, but my whole family's coming so I wont get to do anything :( still I can't wait, I get to go on Saturday the fifth. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	62. Chapter 62

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 62**

**Day Five**

"I can't take it, Raito... I _neeeed_ an apple..." Ryuk complained, his body was twisting at one of the most interesting angles I had ever seen.

"Just have to get through it... even if there's nothing to do..." Raito said, seemingly to himself but he must have been speaking to Ryuk.

"Mr. Stalker... the video will be boring if all I'm doing is sitting..." Amane tried to reason, "If you bring me a change of clothes, I can do a lot of posses..."

Yagami-san stared blankly at the ceiling of his cell.

"The chief looks worse then Raito and Amane..." Ryuzaki said.

"Yeah, understandably. It's been five days, and no newly announced criminals have been killed. It must be horrible for a father." Matsuda agreed.

"It's now pretty much proven that Raito is Kira." Aizawa stated.

"Yagami-san." Ryuzaki said into the microphone.

"What happened?! Good news?! Bad news?!" Yagami-san shouted standing up and moving closer to the camera as if that would help him hear the answer faster.

"No... try to relax... nothing will be accomplished by stressing yourself out. This could take a very long time. Perhaps you should rest in a more comfortable place?" Ryuzaki suggested.

"Impossible! There's no place on earth where I could relax right now. I'm most comfortable here! No matter what the results, I'm not leaving without my son!" Yagami-san shouted right into the camera.

"I understand..." Ryuzaki consented.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

**Day Seven**

"Raito-kun, it's only been a week now. Are you all right?" Ryuzaki asked through the microphone.

"Yeah... I know I must look pretty bad in here but... this pride... I'll have to... get rid of it." Raito stated, and Ryuk suddenly looked at him from his twisted position against the wall of the cell.

"Okey-dokey!" Ryuk said as he untwisted and stood up, "Later." he said as he walked through the wall of the cell.

I stared at the screen, my mouth hanging open. I knew what had just happened, Raito had given up the death note.

His expression softened. Then he blinked in confusion. "Ryuzaki..." Raito said. "It's true that I suggested the confinement idea and chose this for myself, but... I just realized that this is pointless!! That's because... I'm not Kira! Let me out of here!"

"I can't do that. I promised you I wouldn't let you out until I determined whether or not you are Kira. That was also what you wanted." Ryuzaki replied.

"I did say that, but... something was wrong with me then! Do you really think that Kira could do such things without being conscious of them?! I don't know what kind of power Kira has, but he definitely exists and has committed these acts by his own free will! I have no consciousness of such acts, so I can't be Kira!" Raito argued.

I was wondering why he would get himself confined just so he could give up the death note, I tried to come up with at least one reason, but nothing came to mind.

"I too do not believe that Kira had no awareness of his actions..." Ryuzaki allowed. "But if you are Kira, everything still fits if we assume you just can't accept the fact that you're Kira. The killings stopped immediately after you were confined... I believe you are merely hiding the fact that you are Kira!"

"Ryuzaki, listen carefully... I swear I'm not lying... I'm not Kira! I must have been framed. I can think clearly now, and that has to be it." Raito begged, there was no better way to describe it.

"Framed...?" Ryuzaki muttered. "Listen, Raito-kun. The only people who know you are being confined are the ones in this room. Yet the killings stopped as soon as you were locked up..."

"Then somebody there is Kira!" Raito accused, "I'll help you investigate. Let me out!" he begged. "Hurry and let me out, we're wasting time!"

"No, I cannot let you out." Ryuzaki refused.

Was Raito trying to prove he was innocent through ignorance alone? Now that he didn't remember the death note there wasn't much hope for his release.

"Damn it... why is this happening...?" Raito lowered his head. He was all but going to pieces.

"What's going on? This isn't like Raito at all... he's taking back what he said earlier and not making any sense..." Aizawa asked.

"Maybe the week of confinement has gotten to him...?" Matsuda suggested. "Now that the killings have stopped, there's no way we can end the confinement... even I know that."

"Well, no matter what he says, looks like this case will be resolved with Raito Yagami as Kira." Aizawa commented.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

**Day Fifteen**

"What the hell is going on?!" Matsuda asked as he entered the room. "Yesterday, two weeks worth of criminals were killed all at once."

"Yeah, Kira is back." Aizawa agreed.

"Have you told the chief?" Matsuda questioned anyone who would answer.

"No, not yet." Aizawa answered, lowering the news paper.

Matsuda grabbed the microphone, ignoring Ryuzaki completely. "Chief! Kira has started killing again!" he exclaimed into the mike.

"What?!" Yagami-san was excited, but I could tell that he wanted to be sure.

"Kira was merely resting. He's started punishing criminals again." Matsuda confirmed, happily.

"Are you sure, Matsuda?!" Yagami-san asked again, "Then my son... I know I shouldn't be happy when people are being killed but... my son... no... this is Ryuzaki we're talking about... he won't clear him..." he realized.

Aizawa and Matsuda stared hard at Ryuzaki as if prompting him to help Yagami-san's mood.

"Umm... he's in the grey..." Ryuzaki caved under the pressure.

"Did you hear that, Chief?!!" Matsuda asked excited.

"Yeah, he was _definitely guilty _just yesterday... thank god..." Yagami-san sighed in relief.

"He's probably one shade from being cleared!" Matsuda shouted. Now let's tell Raito!" he said reaching for the microphone.

"Matsuda!" Ryuzaki shouted, swatting Matsuda's hand away. "I mean Matsuda-san! Stop! Please don't tell Raito-kun!"

"B...but..." Matsuda protested.

"Raito-kun." Ryuzaki said into the microphone.

"What is it, Ryuzaki?" Raito asked.

"It's been two weeks with no new criminals killed. Why don't you confess to being Kira already?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ryuzaki!" Raito cried. "Ryuzaki, you're wrong. I can understand how you concluded that I was Kira. But this is a trap! I'm not Kira!" he insisted, "Zoom in or whatever and look into my eyes! Are these the eyes of someone who's lying?! Let me out of here, Ryuzaki!"

"Amane, you really don't know who Kira is?" Ryuzaki asked, changing mikes.

"_Sigh_... that again? I wish I knew. Kira's a hero. He punished the burglar who killed my parents." Amane answered.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

**Day Fifty**

"Are you alright, Yagami-san? There's no need for you to still be there." Ryuzaki stated.

"It's been over a month since Kira started killing again... I'm convinced my son isn't Kira. Now only you need to be convinced, Ryuzaki. I'm not leaving here without my son..." Yagami-san answered.

"The chief sure is stubborn..." Matsuda whispered to Aizawa.

"Raito-kun, are you okay?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Yeah... I'm fine but... Ryuzaki, the killing has stopped since I've been confined... from that, I think that Kira must know what's going on here... using that line of reasoning..." Raitio tried, but was cut off.

"No, the killings have stopped because you are Kira." Ryuzaki stated, calmly.

"No!! I'm not Kira! How many times do I have to tell you?!" Raito shouted.

"Ryuzaki's rough... he still hasn't told Raito that the killings have resumed..." Aizawa mumbled.

"Amane." Ryuzaki asked.

"Yes...?" Amane asked back, she was slumped over in her chair and had been like that for the past few days. I felt horrible and had taken to leaving the hotel and riding my motorcycle as much as possible to avoid seeing it.

"You don't seem too well, are you okay?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Are you and idiot?" Amane asked, her voice seemed stronger, when she was insulting Ryuzaki. I thought it was a good question. "I've been in here for weeks- how could I be well?"

"Yes, good point." Ryuzaki agreed.

"Let me go already..." Amane pleaded, "I miss Raito..."

"Look's like they're all at their limits..." Matsuda said.

"Ryuzaki... why do you keep Raito confined? He should be released. Then the chief will come out too. People are being killed without these two gaining any information about it. That's enough to see that..." Aizawa argued.

"The only thing I see is the abnormal strength of Amane's love for Raito Yagami." Ryuzaki disagreed.

I sighed, I had already tried that argument, then I had gotten sent out of the room again.

"Ryuzaki... I'm sorry, but to me it looks like you're doing this because you don't want to admit that you were wrong about Raito being Kira." Aizawa accused.

"I figured you might think that." Ryuzaki stated.

Had he really, though?

"We know that Kira killed Lind L. Tailor and the FBI agents. And as Raito once mentioned, if Kira could kill under surveillance and without gaining information, then there would be no need to kill Tailor and the agents. They'd never be any kind of threat to him. Kira doesn't kill without a reason. That was your conclusion as well, Ryuzaki." Aizawa explained.

"I see..." Matsuda agreed, "if he could kill under these circumstances, then he had nothing to fear from the FBI..."

"A search of Raito's house revealed nothing all we found was a diary in his desk that showed he was working hard on solving this case. Though the final line in it said "I might be Kira..." it's been 50 days now. There's no point to this. We need to concentrate on finding the true Kira!" Aizawa finished.

"I understand..." Ryuzaki consented. He clicked on the microphone. "Yagami-san."

"What?" Yagami-san asked.

"I want to speak to you directly. Will you return to the task force headquarters? I will share my conclusion on this case. As Raito-kun's father, I want you to be the first to hear it..." Ryuzaki requested.

"...Fine..." Yagami-san agreed, reluctantly.

It took about half an hour for Yagami-san to get to the hotel room, and in that time, the task force was sent away and I was confined to my bedroom. I tried quite hard to eavesdrop but I couldn't hear through the door.

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**author's note: **sorry that chapter is boring, but I had to get through this part and there wasn't much I could do to make it interesting, but the next few chapters should be better. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	63. Chapter 63

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 63**

**Release**

No one bothered to tell me what was going on, but as soon as they had finished talking, Yagami-san left the room and Ryuzaki went back to monitoring his captives.

Not a word was said to me or the rest of the task force about what had they had been talking about, but three days later we found out anyway.

I was standing behind Ryuzaki along with the rest of the task force as we watched a monitor that showed Yagami-san's shoulder as he drove, and Amane sitting in the back seat of a car.

"I never imagined the stalker was an old man... so you're finally letting me go?" Amane asked.

"I'm not a stalker, I'm a detective." Yagami-san corrected her.

Amane didn't seem to believe that. "Oh, now I remember! That thing about the second Kira... you were serious about that...? no way... the police wouldn't tie me up like that... anyway, if you're letting me go then what's with the handcuffs?" she asked.

"Shut up." Yagami-san ordered, whatever he was doing was bothering him.

The car pulled over in a tunnel and Yagami-san got out, the only thing I could see was Amane as she called out for Raito.

A moment later Raito and Yagami-san got into the car.

"I missed you so much, Raito!" Amane cried leaning over in her seat.

"Misa." he responded. "What's going on, Dad?"

"Huh?! Dad?! Oh no, Raito. I called your father a stalker..." Amane worried.

"Are we finally being cleared and released...?" Raito asked.

"No... right now you two are... being taken to your execution." Yagami-san responded. I blinked in shock, how had Ryuzaki convicted them without finding that death note? "An underground facility has been set up and your execution will be carried out in secret. I volunteered to take you there..." he finished.

Now I knew that this couldn't be real, even if Ryuzaki had convicted them, he would never let Yagami-san drive then to their execution, that had been part of the reason for his confinement.

"Execution? What are you talking about, Dad?!" Raito asked in panic.

"What?! You're joking, right?! Dad... _ha ha..._" Amane looked worried too, but I was a bit distracted by her use of the word 'Dad' after calling the same man an old stalker... besides, they had to be safe, right?

"L has concluded that Raito Yagami is Kira and Misa Amane is the second Kira. He's declared that once you two are executed, the Kira killings will end." Yagami-san informed.

"I thought the killings had already stopped..." Raito mentioned.

"No, they continue." Yagami-san confirmed.

"They do? That's not what I was told..."

"L was probably keeping it from you to procure a confession. That's of no importance to you now. L has promised that your deaths will stop the killings, and the police and government have agreed to his proposal. Kira will be eradicated in secret..." Yagami-san finished.

"No way! Wait, Dad! I'm not Kira!!" Raito shouted.

"Yeah, what are you thinking? He's your own son!" Amane cried.

"It's not my choice. It was L's. L controls the police. He's solved numerous cases and has never been wrong." Yagami-san said.

"Dad! You believe L over me?!" Raito accused, he obviously had no idea we were watching him.

"L is even saying that if this doesn't stop the killing, he will take responsibility and end his own life." Yagami-san stated.

Ryuzaki had probably known what my reaction would be, because he had already moved to cover my mouth and stifle my loud cry of "_what?!_" but because I wasn't going to let it go– how dare he stake his life on something like that– he continued to hold his hand over my mouth as we watched.

"L... what is he thinking...?" Raito asked in disbelief.

"Good question." I tried to mumble through Ryuzaki's hand.

"I understand that from the facts we have, this may seem like a reasonable assumption but... this is a mistake! L is making a mistake... Why would he come to a conclusion like this...? something's wrong here... this isn't like L at all... L has always solved his cases with hard evidence, why would he let this one end like this?" Raito continued to ask.

"We're here." Yagami-san announced flatly.

Through the back window of the car, all I could see was an open field.

"Where is this? Why did you bring us out to the middle of nowhere?" Raito asked.

"Oh! Are you letting us escape?!" Amane suggested, hopefully.

"Yes... nobody will see us out there... I've brought you here instead of the execution ground... Raito..." Yagami-san turned to face his son. "I'm going to kill you here and then kill myself."

"What are you saying, Dad?! Y...You can't be serious...!!" Raito protested.

"Stop it! You're crazy!" Amane shouted. "Your child is Kira so you'll kill him and kill yourself?! If you want to die then die by yourself! Can't you even see that if you do that you'll be no different from Kira?!"

"No... I'm different than Kira... I have the responsibility of being his father and the police chief." Yagami-san argued.

"Ahhh!!! you're insane!!" Amane shrieked, tears running down her face.

"Dad! Misa's right! If we die here, we'll never uncover the truth!" Raito shouted. "We should run away! The truth might come out. No, I'll find the truth while running!"

"It's too late, Raito..." Yagami-san said, reaching inside his jacket. "It's already been decided by those above me. You're dying either way. This way at least it'll be by my hand..." he pulled out a hand gun.

"Stop, Dad! I swear I'm not Kira! If we die here, we'll fall right into Kira's trap! Don't you see that?!" Raito shouted.

"Amane... Raito and I will die here, but I have no reason to kill you. The police will find this car soon. You'll be executed at the planned site..." Yagami-san told the positively horrified girl.

I started struggling against Ryuzaki's hold, mostly because I was starting to realize that this could be real and the camera in Yagami-san's car was so Ryuzaki could tell if he tried something like this. But if that was it, then why hadn't anyone gone to stop him? Was it because he was too far away?

Sure, Raito and Amane were Kiras or at least they had been, but the death note had been passed on and someone else was using it now, so even if they were both killed the murders would continue. And if the rest of this was real then there was a chance that Ryuzaki had...

"L-listen, Dad! If we were Kira and the second Kira, then there's no way we'd let you kill us! There are no witnesses here, if we were the Kiras, then..." Raito tried, but he was cut off. But I was enlightened, now I understood Ryuzaki's plan and I stopped struggling, he realized I had gotten it and let go of me.

"Shut up." Yagami-san ordered, putting the gun to Raito's forehead.

"Dad!!" Raito protested, but he must have known it was useless.

"Raito, we're both murderers. We'll see each other again in hell." Yagami-san said.

"Noooo!!!" Amane shrieked, but it was too late, the gun was fired.

...but no bullet came out...

"A blank...?" Raito asked in shock.

"Thank god..." Yagami-san sighed as he sat back in his seat.

"Thank god...? what do you mean, Dad?" Raito asked.

"Forgive me, you two... this was the only way to end your confinement... please understand that I only did it because I truly believed that you weren't Kira." Yagami-san stated. "Did you see that, Ryuzaki? I did as you said and I'm still alive."

I sighed, so it was fake after all.

"Yes, brilliant acting. In that situation, if Amane was the second Kira, who can kill with just a person's face, I think we can assume she would have killed you before you shot Raito-kun... and the same is true if Raito-kun was Kira. The Kira I know would kill his own father if need be... it's possible that Raito-kun may have figured out it was an act before the end, but...as promised, I will end both of their confinements." Rtuzaki said.

"And also as promised, though Amane says they were tapes to send into an occult tv show, we do have various pieces of evidence connecting her to the second Kira. Until everything is made clear, we will put Amane under surveillance." he finished.

"What?! You still suspect me?!" Amane protested.

"Well, you will get to return to your normal life. If you're not guilty then you can just think of the surveillance as police protection." Yagami-san pointed out.

"Oh yeah! Since I'm not the second Kira, I'll just pretend I got some bodyguards." Amane realized.

"And Raito-kun, also as promised... I will work it out so that you and I will be together 24 hours a day, working on solving this case." Ryuzaki added.

"You got it, Ryuzaki!! Let's catch Kira... together!" Raito agreed. I wondered how long he had planned to go on thinking he was innocent, or had he really given up being Kira?

"Yes, I'm pleased to be working with you." Ryuzaki said.

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**author's note: **ok, I'm sorry, that will be the last boring chapter, the confinement was just hard to right about without copying it completely. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	64. Chapter 64

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 64**

**Chained...Literally**

The chain was longer then most I had seen, long enough, even, for me to stand beside Ryuzaki without being too close to Raito, but it was still a solid chain that insured that I would have to live with the ex-mass murderer until the case was solved.

Well, I _could_ leave if I wanted to, but I wasn't going to leave Ryuzaki after staying with him for months just because he made an _interesting_ error in judgement.

But I suppose I should actually describe what I was seeing at that moment, I was standing next to Ryuzaki in the hotel room and about four feet away was Raito, who was connected to Ryuzaki by a five foot chain.

In short, they were handcuffed together, one cuff around Ryuzaki's right wrist and one around Raito's left. Amane Misa was standing a few feet away and the task force was sitting on the couch against the wall.

"Is this really necessary, Ryuzaki...?" Raito asked holding up his arm and examining the chain.

"I'm not doing this because I want to." Ryuzaki pointed out, it must have been a way of saying that this was necessary.

"Huh...? this is what you meant by being together 24 hours a day?" Amane asked. "Two guys chained together is gross... this is what you're into? You were with Raito at school, too..." she moved her hand to her mouth like she was whispering but she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Hey, Amane, cut it out, that's _not_ what this is about." I protested, cutting off Ryuzaki's reply.

I knew Amane was Kira, but what she came up with to justify my retort was cruel and unusual.

"What? Do _you _like Ryuzaki?" she asked, grinning as though she had just beaten me a chess.

"Hunh?!" I made a loud unnecessary sound and turned red for no reason. "No! I don't– I mean that's just not... uh..." I sighed and examined the pattern on the carpet, she was asking for it.

Ryuzaki and Raito eyed me with interest as the red faded from my face and I managed to look back up at the group, Amane smiled evilly as if she had confirmed what she had been thinking.

"Whatever." Amane decided and turned her attention back to Ryuzaki, "Raito belongs to me..." she declared, "And if you're always together, then when am I supposed to go on dates with Raito?" she asked, her voice bordering on a pout.

"The dates will naturally be with the three of us..." Ryuzaki replied.

"Wha?!!" she cried. "You're saying we have to kiss in front of you?" she asked.

"I didn't say you have to do anything. But I will be watching..." Ryuzaki told her.

"Huh? What the hell?! I knew it! You _are_ a pervert!" she accused.

"Amane-san, if it bothers you that much, then I can come too and you can pretend it's a double date or something..." I offered without thinking, I instantly regretted it.

She forgot her argument completely. "Ha! I knew it, you do like Ryuzaki!" she cried, happy about being proven right.

"No! I don't, I just want you to stop complaining about everything!" I shouted, turning red once more.

"Misa doesn't complain about _everything_!" Amane retorted, though she certainly complained about _something_. "She just doesn't like her boyfriend being chained to a pervert!" her voice shot up near the end of the sentence.

"He's not a..." wait, what was I saying? Ryuzaki was a pervert, I was only arguing with that fact because I wanted to disagree with Amane.

The room's occupants were watching the argument clearly irritated, with the exception of Ryuzaki and Raito who seemed to be enjoying the cat fight.

Regardless of his interest in how the fight would end, Ryuzaki eventually decided to end it. "Raito-kun, please shut Misa-san up." he requested.

"Misa, don't be so difficult. You were definitely the one who sent those videos. Be grateful that you're allowed this much freedom." Raito intervened.

"Hey, what are you saying, Raito? I'm your girlfriend, right? You don't trust your lover?" Amane pouted.

"Girlfriend...? all I know is that you say you fell in love with me at first sight and now you won't leave me alone..." Raito said.

"Then you took advantage of that and kissed me...?!" Amane cried, pounding her small fists against Raito's chest, he didn't seem to notice.

"About this love at first sight..." Ryuzaki cut in. "It was in Aoyama on may 22nd, correct?" he asked.

"Yes." Amane answered.

"Why did you go to Aoyama that day? What were you wearing?" Ryuzaki asked.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I just went there because I felt like it. How should I be able to remember exactly what clothes I was wearing? I'm not allowed to hang out in Aoyama without a reason?" Amane replied defensively.

"So you went to Aoyama and when you got home you were in love with Raito-kun and knew his name?" Ryuzaki continued, he and Amane moved closer as they argued.

"Yes." Amane repeated.

"But you don't know how you learned his name." Ryuzaki finished, it wasn't a question.

"That's right." Amane finished as well.

They were now so close together that they could bang their foreheads if they kept going, however, I wasn't going to stop them because there was a chance that Ryuzaki would get a good slap for it.

"Then... how would you feel if Raito-kun was Kira?" Ryuzaki asked, suddenly, pulling away.

"Huh?" Amane was thrown off guard, but recovered. "If Raito was Kira...?" she repeated.

"Yes." Ryuzaki confirmed.

"Awesome." Amane said, latching onto Raito's arm and smiling. "I've always been grateful to Kira for punishing the man who killed my parents. If Raito was Kira, then I'd like him even more." Amane cooed, rubbing against Raito's arm. "Though I already like him so much, there might not be any room for more." she smiled.

"We're talking about Kira here...? you'd like Kira more...? aren't you afraid at all?" Ryuzaki asked, he seemed confused by the notion of anyone liking a murderer.

"We're talking about if Raito was Kira, right? I wouldn't be scared at all. Misa is pro-Kira! I'd think of ways I could help him." Amane stated, referring to herself in the third person.

"You'd probably only get in his way..." Ryuzaki pointed out. "But according to this, there's no mistake that you're the second Kira... it's actually so definitive that it makes me question it..." he decided.

"Good, because Misa isn't Kira!" Amane insisted.

"Anyway... you will be put under surveillance." Ryuzaki stated. "As you've seen, I've gone out of my way and given you a room that connects to Raito-kuns. So try to bear with us."

I frowned, he hadn't gone out of his way, he had just given her my room.

"The door to your room can only be opened with this cardkey. When you wish to leave, call us and we'll let you out." I also had a copy of that, key. He wouldn't lock me in the room with her. "On private outings and modeling jobs, Matsuda-san will accompany you as your manager, Matsui. We've already paid off your agency to agree to this, but they don't know he's a police officer, so don't reveal that to them yourself." Ryuzaki requested.

"I don't want this guy as my manager!" Amane complained.

"Hey... what's wrong with me, Misa-Misa?" Matsuda asked.

"Give it a freakin' rest with all this dating and kissing and Misa-Misa talk!!" Aizawa shouted, suddenly. "This is the _Kira case_, damn it! Take it seriously!"

"S...sorry..." Matsuda stuttered.

"Oh... sorry about that... I know we're taking it seriously but... anyway... go to your room, Amane." Aizawa said, as he seized her around the wrist and walked her to the door.

"What?" Amane wondered as he tried to push her out of the room, "Raito, let's go on a date even if it's the three of us." she managed to say as Aizawa finally succeeded in shoving her through the door and locking her in.

"Phew..." he sighed as the door clicked shut.

"Raito-kun." Ryuzaki said.

"Yeah?" Raio asked.

"Are you serious about Amane?" Ryuzaki asked. I wondered if he wanted to ask her out.

"No... as I said, it's all one sided." Raito answered.

"Then could you act like you're serious about her?" Ryuzaki requested. "We know she's involved with the second Kira from the videotape evidence... and also that she loves you..."

"You want me to get close to her and make her reveal things about the second Kira?" Raito asked.

"Yes, I think you are capable of doing it, Raito-kun. This is one of the reasons that I released the two of you." Ryuzaki said.

"Ryuzaki..." Raito and I both said at the same time, then we looked at each other and I had to fight the urge to glare at him for having the same problem with Ryuzaki's plan as I did. How dare I side with Raito against Ryuzaki, but what he was asking was wrong. I closed my mouth and let Raito finish speaking.

"Even if it's to solve the Kira case, I could never play with a woman's emotions like that." Raito said. "I'm sorry, but you need to understand. To me, taking advantage of a person's feelings like that is the most despicable thing a person can do." Raito finished.

Ryuzaki was silent.

"What's wrong, Ryuzaki?" Raito asked after a few seconds.

"Nothing. You're right, Raito-kun... but I'd appreciate it if you could remind her to make sure she doesn't reveal things about our investigation to anyone." Ryuzaki answered.

"Hey Ryuzaki, is there anything that can be done about this constant need to change hotels? I think it would be better if we could stay in one location." Raito asked after a little while. I should have known that he would have a similar problem to mine with the hotel hopping.

"Yes, I've already thought about that... and so..." Ryuzaki began as he crossed the room, Raito trailing after him and the rest of the task force joining them by the computer. I wanted to know what he was doing so I followed too.

"Construction started when I first met face to face with Yagami-san and the others. It should be completed in a few days. Take a look." Ryuzaki said as he pulled up a picture on the computer screen.

"Construction?" I wondered out loud and looked at the screen.

"There are 23 floors above ground, two floors below. You can't see from the outside, but the roof is equipped with two helicopters." Ryuzaki explained.

"Huh?"

"Wow..." came general mutters of approval.

"Uh, Ryuzaki..." I spoke up.

"Yes?" he asked, looking at me over his shoulder.

"What is this building for?" I asked, though I knew the answer.

"I had this built for the investigation." he replied.

"I see, and how long did it take for you to build it?" I continued.

"Roughly eight months." he said, rounding up.

"I see, well if you had the ability to build a high rise building and stay there permanently, then why did we spend ten years moving between warehouses all over the world?" I asked, my voice gaining a hint of annoyance near the end of the question.

"We needed to be near the case we were working on." he answered simply and turned away.

I sighed and let him finish talking about his new building.

"The outside looks like an ordinary high-rise building, but to enter you need to go through various security check points. All the equipment and computers inside are state of the art. The 5th to the 20th floor all have four private rooms per floor, so I'd like all of you to live there as much as possible. And if we increase our numbers, we could accommodate about 60 people. Misa-san will get her own floor. That should keep her happy." he finished.

"Oh? Yeah." Raito agreed. "But wow. To go this far..."

"Actually... where are you getting the money for this, Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asked.

"So as you can see... I want to solve this case no matter what. That's what this means..." Ryuzaki said.

"You didn't answer the question..." Aizawa pointed out.

"Yeah. I'm with you... the mass-killings are bad enough, but I'll never forgive Kira for the trouble he's brought to my dad and me. I want to catch him no matter what, too." Raito agreed.

"If you really mean "no matter what." how about getting closer to Misa-san and making her reveal things...?" Ryuzaki suggested.

"I can't do that– it goes against my code." Raito said.

"I see... that's unfortunate..." Ryuzaki sighed.

"Ryuzaki..." I protested.

"_Pff_..." Aizawa made a small noise behind me and I turned to face him.

"Huh?" Yagami-san wondered.

"Sorry... I'm really motivated now, too. Ryuzaki, chief' Raito, Yumi, let's catch Kira no matter what!" he said.

"Yes." Yagami-san agreed.

"Umm... you didn't include me..." Matsuda pointed out.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The task force left the hotel after a while so I went to my room– which was also now Amane's room– with the intention of going to sleep.

It made sense that since Ryuzaki had to share a room with Raito, I would have to share a room with Amane until this new facility was finished. But I still felt like I had gotten the short end of the stick because Raito was slightly more tolerable then Amane.

She was a nice enough girl when there was nothing around to annoy her, so now that Ryuzaki wasn't there she was much more pleasant to be around... until her mouth opened.

It must have been about ten at night, but she was still awake and full of enough energy to annoy me.

"You should ask out Ryuzaki!" she suggested quite loudly, throwing down the magazine she had been reading.

"Wha– no! Amane-san, I'm not going out with Ryuzaki!" I insisted.

"But if he goes out with you, then Raito and I can be alone." she pouted.

"Amane-san, I see what you're thinking but it won't work for two reasons : 1. I'm not going to ask out Ryuzaki." she opened her mouth but I cut her off. "And 2. Even if I did ask him out, and even if he was stupid enough to say yes, he would still take Raito with him." I told her, and walked to the bathroom.

"But–"

_Slam_

The bathroom door closed in her face.

After a long conversation, a slight argument, and a positively huge sundae, Ryuzaki had agreed to leave Amane's surveillance up to me, and therefore had not installed cameras in the room. But in spite of that fact, I still conducted a thorough search of the bathroom, before changing into a baggy white shirt and brushing my hair for bed.

I unlocked the door and jumped as I nearly collided with Amane who was standing right outside.

"Please." she begged.

"No." I answered, sidestepping and walking to the bed.

There was only one bed, so the two of us were forced to lay as far apart as to mattress would allow, but that didn't make much of a difference because the moment Amane fell asleep I felt a hard kick in my back that knocked me right off the edge of the bed.

She had managed to unconsciously swing her entire body to the side and plant her foot right in my spine. I watched her for a moment as she kicked again then I took a pillow off the bed and lay down on the floor.

But the noise from her restless kicking kept me awake anyway and I got up after about ten minutes.

I used my cardkey to open the door and walk back into the main room where I was planning to sleep on the couch.

All the lights in the room were turned off so when I lay down on the couch a single white light coming from the door to Ryuzaki's room caught my eye. It wasn't bright enough to be the ceiling light, so I assumed that it was a laptop.

I tried to ignore it but after a few minutes I decided to see what was going on. The door was open by a fraction so I peeked inside and all I could see was the bed, Raito was lying on the left side but the right side was empty.

"You can come in." Ryuzaki said from the other side of the door.

"How do you do that?" I asked as I opened the door the rest of the way and stepped inside.

Ryuzaki was sitting in an armchair by the side of the bed, working on his laptop while Raito slept.

"I could here you leaving your room." he answered not looking at me.

I sighed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, still focused on whatever he was working on.

"Yeah, Amane kicks like a wounded horse." I claimed rubbing my back, where she had hit me.

"I see." he said skeptically.

I walked over to him and looked at the laptop, but I was too tired to read it. Instead I sat on the arm of his chair and watched him work in silence for a while.

"You can sit on my lap if you want." he offered after about five minutes.

"So you heard us?" I asked, sighing. He was just teasing me, besides, with the way he sat I wouldn't be able to sit on his lap.

"Yes, you were yelling quite loudly." he answered. He was referring to the argument Amane and I had, had when I had first entered the room. "Why did you object so strongly?" he asked after another moment.

"I don't know... I guess it's because... you're my best friend and have been for almost my whole life, so a date would feel... weird..." I couldn't think of a better way to phrase it.

"'Feel weird'?" he repeated.

I sighed again and stood up.

"You don't mind if I use your bed do you?" I asked, though it didn't matter what his answer was, because I had already walked around the room and lay down on the empty side of the bed, as far away as possible from Raito, but still facing Ryuzaki.

He sighed as well and closed the laptop, I don't think he had bothered saving his work, but at about that time he realized a problem. The chain the connected him to Raito wasn't long enough for him to walk all the way around the bed as I had done, so he was forced to crawl over the foot of the bed in order to lay directly in between Raito and I.

He was attempting to lay as far from Raito as possible and if he really wanted to, we could have switched places but he didn't ask to switch so I kept my mouth shut.

He wrapped his arms around me and I couldn't stop myself from playing with the bottom of his shirt, but I also couldn't keep my mouth shut. "Pervert." I muttered under my breath, but he heard and I felt his arms loosen before he must have had one of those "now or never" epiphanies and pulled me closer.

I sighed, regretting my own stupidity, and lay my head against his chest, closing my eyes. "This never leaves the hotel." I threatened.

I felt him smile as he pressed his face into my hair.

______________________________________________________________________________

**author's note: **wow, I'm way late. Sorry. Thanks's for reading and thanks for the reviews, and sorry about ooc-ness if there was any, I can never tell while I'm writing in. Happy belated 4th of July!


	65. Chapter 65

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 65**

**Confused**

I woke that morning feeling groggy and tired, which was unusual to say the least because I never had trouble getting up before. As soon as I realized that I was awake, I shut my eyes tighter and pressed myself harder into whatever it was that I had my arms wrapped around.

I groaned a bit when the warm thing didn't block out all the light, then decided to just get up and drink some coffee or something until tomorrow night.

I rubbed my face into the soft warm fabric in front of me for the last time then I pulled away and opened my eyes for the first time.

That had to of been the most embarrassing moment of my life, because as my eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room, I found myself face to face with Ryuzaki, with my arms wrapped around his neck.

I turned red, opened my mouth to say something, then closed it as nothing came out. But then my body reacted strangely and I shoved my knee into his stomach while pushing away from him and almost falling off the edge of the bed.

If someone had asked me why I had done that, I wouldn't have had an answer for them because I hadn't actually wanted to do it.

"S-sorry!" I tried to say.

It would have been less painful for him if he had let me fall off the bed, but instead, he had wrapped his arms around my waist and held me as I pushed on him, that gave me enough leverage to hurt him quite badly.

I pulled my knee back and moved further away from the edge of the bed so I wouldn't break his arms as well as his ribs.

"Sorry." I whispered again, while I tried to rub his stomach where I had hit.

He grabbed my hand after I pressed hard on the forming bruise.

"I'm really sorry." I insisted. Then I heard the slight jingle of metal on metal and glanced down at his right wrist, there was a chain it was about five feet long and on the other end was–

"Gah!!" I cried, though not loud enough to wake the still sleeping Raito, and finally succeeded in falling off the edge of the bed.

I had completely forgotten what had happened the previous day but now that I saw the evidence of it my memories returned.

Ryuzaki leaned over the edge of the bed. "Is everything alright?" he asked, and his voice confirmed that I had knocked the wind out of him.

I nodded. I was too focused on how the handcuff had already begun to wear down the skin on his wrist, though he didn't seem to notice.

"Ryuzaki... take it off." I ordered. He was going to permanently damage himself if he didn't bandage it or something.

He just looked at me, and I realized that I hadn't been very specific about what I wanted him to take off. I blushed at all the possible meanings the sentence could have and then clarified. "The handcuffs." I said.

The message got through that time and he shook his head as he sat on the edge of the bed. I stood up and looked down at him.

"I can't." he said clearly.

"Ryuzaki, you're hurting yourself." I pointed out. He seemed to notice the raw skin under the handcuff for the first time. "It's only the first day and you're going to start bleeding soon."

"I can't take it off." he said flatly. I sighed, and settled on a plan of action.

He had, by some strange twist of fate, been sitting normally with his legs hanging off the edge of the bed, probably because he hadn't gotten around to adjusting his position yet, but I took advantage of this situation by sitting on his lap with my legs around his waist.

I pressed myself as close as I could to him and wrapped my right arm around his neck as I played with his hair.

Unfortunately, he had moved his chained arm away from me and attempted to hold it outstretched behind him. So the first part of my plan had failed, but I wasn't going to give up, he was causing self injury for no reason.

"Come on, Ryuzaki." I pleaded sweetly, while giving him my best puppy dog pout.

I moved my right hand to trace along a vein in his neck, while I attempted to reach his right wrist with my left hand. Luckily, said right wrist flopped onto the bed as all thought failed him. I had to try quite hard to keep from laughing at the dumbfounded expression on his face.

Even when he was completely frozen in shock, I couldn't reach his hand because his arms were longer then mine. I pressed myself as hard as I could against him, but his chained wrist was still too far away.

Plan c. I leaned my forehead against his and spoke as softly as I could, "Please." I whispered, though I had a feeling he had completely forgotten what I was asking for. Meanwhile my fingers trailed along his jaw.

His mouth fell open and I felt him draw in a breath, probably to say something decisive like "uhhh..." but before he could get anything out, I felt his left arm move. Unfortunately the chain was around his right wrist, so the movement didn't accomplish my goal.

I felt the chain touch the tip of my finger and was about to make a final reach for it when the rug was pulled out from under me. How? Ryuzaki's left hand, _groped_ around my legs before grabbing onto the inside of my right thigh. To make things worse, he regained enough control of himself to form a perverted half smile right in my face.

I bit my tough hard to avoid shouting at him, I was so close, to ruining it now would be a huge mistake. I braced my feet against the edge of the bed, gave him an irresistibly sweet smile... then I kicked off the bed and pushed him backwards, while I reached for the chain. To my great pleasure I felt the cold metal of the chain and closed my fingers around it.

His back hit the bed and I landed on top of him as we bounced a bit on the mattress. We both took a moment to look up at Raito and make sure that he was still asleep, I was quite pleased with the fact that he was a deep sleeper.

We looked back at each other for a moment, he still looked a bit dazed from what was definitely the most interesting experience of my life, so I suppose it wasn't a complete shock that his hand was still resting on my thigh.

"Pervert." I said flatly as I rolled off of him, being careful not to let go of the chain.

His hand flopped onto the bed as I moved away and he turned his head to look at me, but he didn't sit up like I did. My heart was pounding but over all I was proud of myself for making it through that whole plan.

"Ok, Ryuzaki, where's the ke–" my eyes narrowed, "it's in your pocket, isn't it." I realized. Something had been jabbing me the whole time so it seemed like a possibility.

He nodded a bit. I wasn't completely surprised that he was giving in, I had won after all.

But he was surprised when I leaned over him and stuck my hand into his right pocket. He instantly shot up into a sitting position, the movement startled me and I pulled my hand back, though I had already grabbed the key.

As I pulled away, a folded piece of paper fell out of his pocket, I picked it up and moved the key into the hand that I was using to hold the chain.

"What's this?" I asked, it seemed kind of old, but I didn't wait for an answer. I unfolded it and my jaw dropped open as I saw the picture of a small boy and girl holding a trophy twice their size.

I looked from the drawing, to Ryuzaki, then back to the drawing. "Y-you still have this...?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes." he answered, flatly. "Now can I please have it back? You're tearing it." he requested, simply.

I handed it over and he refolded it, pushing it back into his pocket. I smiled a bit as I turned the key in the lock and pulled the handcuff off of him. The skin really was damaged, and he winced as I pressed my fingers against the wound.

Then I grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bed, he followed me into the main room and I made sure to leave the bedroom door wide open so he could watch Raito from the couch. He waited on the couch while I made coffee and looked through my bag for a role of gauze, which I surprisingly had.

I walked back into to main room and grabbed the coffee pouring two cups.

"Was any part of that real?" Ryuzaki asked from his place on the couch. I knew what he meant.

"Nope." I said as I flopped onto the couch beside him and handed him a cup of coffee. "That was a ploy."

He went out of his way to grab the coffee with his left hand and I could tell he was going to play up his injury. I rolled my eyes.

"Though I admit I over did it a bit." I said, blushing. "I could have just tackled you." I shrugged.

"You were very convincing." he complimented me, as he drank his coffee.

"Oh, well thank you..." I said, blushing deeper and hiding my smile in my coffee.

Then I set my cup down and reached for his injured wrist. I made sure that he saw me, and he allowed me to take his wrist and attempt to wrap it in gauze. Of course I didn't have a medical degree so I had to redo it several times before I felt satisfied with my work.

The phone rang and I stood up to answer it, already knowing who it would be. "Oh, by the way, Ryuzaki," I said turning around to face him, "you are a pervert."

- - - - - - - - - - -

"Umm... this doesn't feel like a date at all..." Amane complained more then a week later, we were sitting in one of her many rooms, Raito and Ryuzaki were sitting on the couch and Amane and I were on the other couch across the table from them.

Ryuzaki had, somehow, managed to convince me to come and sit here with them, even though I had no obligation to do so.

"Pay no attention to me." Ryuzaki encouraged, eating the strawberry off his cake. "By the way, will you be eating that cake?" he asked Amane, she hadn't touched her cake at all.

"Sweets are fattening. No thanks..." she answered.

"If you use your head, you can eat sweets without gaining weight though..." Ryuzaki pointed out.

"Ah! You're making fun of me again!" Amane protested. Then a thought came to her. "Fine, I'll give you the cake. So, can Raito and I be alone?" she negotiated.

"Even if you're alone, I'll be watching on the monitors, so it wont make any difference." Ryuzaki informed her.

"Why are you such a pervert?! Stop these sick hobbies of yours!" Amane shouted at him as he grabbed her cake.

"You may call me whatever you wish, but I'm taking your cake." Ryuzaki said.

"Come one, Ryuzaki, can't you share?" I asked, I wanted cake too.

He glanced over at me, then cut the cake in half with his fork and dropped half on my plate, though he got the strawberry.

"Thank you." I smiled as I helped myself to the cake.

Amane looked back and forth between Ryuzaki and I, then she returned to her argument.

"Fine then, when Raito and I are alone, I'll close the curtains and turn of the lights." Amane smiled.

"There are infrared cameras too." Ryuzaki commented.

"Then we'll get under the covers, right, Raito?" Amane smirked, sure she'd won.

I rolled my eyes and ate more cake.

"Whatever. We have this great facility now, yet you don't seem very into it, Ryuzaki." Raito mentioned, almost completely ignoring Amane.

"Whatever...? meanie..." Amane pouted. I offered her some cake to cheer her up, but she ignored it.

"Into it...?" Ryuzaki mumbled. "Not really... I'm actually kind of depressed." he stated.

"Depressed?" Raito asked.

"Yes... for the longest time, I thought you were Kira. I'm a little shocked that I was wrong..." Ryuzaki clarified. I almost felt bad enough to tell him that he wasn't wrong, but it was better if he didn't know, because Raito wasn't Kira anymore. "Well, I still suspect you, thus the handcuffs... but Kira could control people's actions..." he said.

"Meaning... Kira controlled you to make me think that you were Kira..." he decided. "Raito-kun and Misa-san were both controlled by Kira... everything fits in my mind if I assume that to be fact... the only thing I don't understand is why the two of you weren't killed..."

"If you were being controlled and killed people without being conscious of it, the you are nothing more then a victim... I have to start the investigation over from scratch... we're back to the beginning." he sighed.

"If Kira took interest in Raito-kun because he had access to police information and then controlled him to make you a suspect in my eyes... that's a pretty big shock to me... very frustrating..." he really looked different when he was depressed, he had never been wrong before, so I had never seen him like this.

"Ryuzaki... with that line of thinking, it means that while we were being controlled, Misa and I were Kiras..." Raito mentioned.

"Yes, I don't think there's any mistake there. You're both Kiras." Ryuzaki agreed. "The way I see it, when you went into confinement, you were Kira. And then the killings stopped... up until then, it makes sense that you were Kira. But after two weeks, the killings resumed... based on that, my thinking is that... Kira's power passes from person to person. The second Kira's video even mentioned that the power could be shared..."

"That's an interesting theory, but if that's the case, then catching Kira will be difficult." Raito said.

"Yes... that's why I'm depressed... you control someone and use them to kill the criminals, then when that person is caught, you transfer the power to someone else, and the first person loses all their memories... that would make capture impossible..." Ryuzaki explained.

"But that's not definite yet. There are too many things that we don't understand about Kira right now. Come one, show some energy." Raito encouraged.

"Energy...?" Ryuzaki questioned. "I'm just not feeling it... why even bother...? trying hard to go after him just puts us in danger... don't you agree? I've thought I was going to die so many times already..." Ryuzaki continued, he didn't notice Raito stand up next to him.

"Ryuzaki..." Raito said, to get his attention. His fist was clenched and I guessed what he was doing, I stirred some sugar into my coffee and drank a bit before setting it down on the table. Ryuzaki looked up at Raito.

I winced as Raito's fist hit Ryuzaki hard in the face, Amane cried out in shock as the blow knocked Ryuzaki half way across the room to land upside down with his legs in the air. Of course the chain also pulled Raito over and the table with my coffee on it went flying.

I sighed and stood up as Ryuzaki began to recover.

"Ouch." he said looking a bit dizzy, it was funny to look at his face though he seemed largely unscathed by the blow.

"Don't be ridiculous! Just because I'm not the true Kira... just because you were wrong, you want to give up?! You gonna sulk like a baby?!" Raito yelled. I was half surprised by how upset he was over something like this.

"I may have worded it poorly but... I'm saying that continuing this isn't going to get us anywhere good, so maybe we should stop..." Ryuzaki reasoned, I didn't think he had worded that too well either.

"What are you talking about? Unless we chase him, there's no way we'll catch Kira! Who's the one who swore to send Kira to his execution?!" Raito continued to argue. "The police, the FBI agents, tv announcers, how many innocent people do you think have been victimized?! You're the one who put Misa and me in confinement!!" he reminded him.

"I understand that..." Ryuzaki said, he sounded quiet after Raito's yelling. "...but whatever the reason..." his voice dropped even further in volume.

"Once is once!" he insisted as he ducked out of Raito's grip and swung around to kick him in the face. Of course the chain pulled him over towards where Raito had landed. "It's not that my reasoning was wrong... it's the fact that the case can't be solved as "Raito Yagami is Kira and Misa Amane is the second Kira." so I'm a little disappointed. I'm human- that's not allowed?"

"No, it's not. The way you talk, it's like you wont be satisfied unless I'm Kira." Raito stated as he got up.

"Not satisfied unless you're Kira...?" Ryuzaki repeated. "Yes, that may be true... I have just realized something... I wanted you to be Kira..." he decided.

Raito punched him again, which resulted in another kick back. "Once is once. I'll have you know that I'm quite strong."Ryuzaki said.

I moved to step in before one of them got a concussion, but at that moment, Amane latched onto my arm and attempted to use me as a human shield, I tried to shake her off but she wouldn't let go.

"Amane! Get off!" I ordered as I tried to back up, that resulted in me banging my hip on the couch, but my cry of pain got Amane off.

I turned to the fight just in time to see Ryuzaki and Raito getting ready to punch each other, I ran over and nearly collided with them in my attempt to stop the fight in time, but just as they were about to hit each other, the phone rang.

Ryuzaki answered it, completely ignoring the fight.

"Yes?" he asked into the phone. "What happened?!" he asked a moment later. "Yes... I see..." he said, and hung up.

"What was it?" Raito asked.

"Nothing, just Matsuda being an idiot again." Ryuzaki answered.

"Well, Matsuda is a little slow." Raito agreed.

______________________________________________________________________________

**author's note: **Oop, it's passed midnight, I started late and kept getting distracted, sorry. And the beginning was a bit over done, but I think she liked it. :) anyway, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! I'll try to be on time tomorrow.


	66. Chapter 66

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 66**

**Work Day**

"Ryuzaki," I complained. "Cheer up, you look like death."

He sighed.

I was sitting at the desk in the main room of the new headquarters. Ryuzaki was sitting backwards in one of the rolling chairs so that he could face me while Raito did something on the computer.

I pouted, but before I could say anything else about Ryuzaki's depression Raito spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Ryuzaki... I know you're not into this, but come over here for a second." he requested from the computer chair.

Ryuzaki didn't bother walking over, he just rolled his chair into position to look past Raito's shoulder at the computer screen.

"Take a look at this. Look at the change here." Raito said, pointing at different sections of the screen. "And look at this sudden growth."

I stood up and walked over to them so I could see too.

"Y... Yagami-kun..." Ryuzaki began to smile a bit as he read whatever was on the screen.

"How about now? You ready to get to work?" Raito asked.

I tried to make sense of what was on the screen, but it all looked like math, and math was hard for me to read, so I didn't see the big exciting discovery right away.

"If this is connected to Kira, then punishing criminals may not be the true goal of this Kira..." Ryuzaki said.

"Yeah, it's possible that punishing criminals is camouflage while he kills for monetary reasons..." Raito agreed.

Now I was confused enough to try and read the information on the screen. There was a chart, which I almost completely ignored, and a list of names and causes of death, but only three were heart attacks, though that didn't mean that they were all natural.

"You once said that if an adult had this power, he would use it for his own benefit or to make money. This would fit that..." Ryuzaki said. "Though, since Kira and the second Kira existed at the same time, this could be an entirely new Kira from the one who was killing criminals. Very impressive research, Yagami-kun."

"Thanks." Raito said.

"I helped a lot with this too, Ryuzaki." Matsuda said, as he walked over to the computer.

"It's all thanks to this new system that allows us to access police, public and media data from all over the world." Raito explained. "At first I didn't know what to look for, but... I started over with the idea that Kira was in Japan and searched based on that."

"It's a fact that a majority of those killed are in Japan. And when you compare the deaths with media coverage, it's clear that Kira gets his information from these local Japanese sources. Since Kira kills with heart attacks, I thought there may be some victims that we haven't been able to pin on him yet."

"So I searched for all the people who died of heart attacks up to now, including non-criminals. That would usually be an incredible amount of work, but this system made it relatively fast."

"I helped a lot on this, Ryuzaki." Matsuda mentioned again, Ryuzaki only glanced at him briefly.

"I planned to carefully examine every heart attack victim over the last five months but... I quickly noticed three suspicious cases. Two could be coincidence, but not three." Raito continued. "Sekimaru corp's vp of development, Roppei Tamiya. Aoi industries director of integrated systems, Kouji Aoi. Former Yotsuba vice-president, Takeyoshi Moriya."

"All three were in important positions in the Japanese business world and all three died of heart attacks. So then I researched Sekimaru, Aoi, and Yotsuba. Yotsuba's stock has been rising steadily while Sekimaru and Aoi's have plummeted." he said.

"So then you did further research into other deaths involving people in the business world...?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Yeah, and look... thirteen deaths that were beneficial to Yotsuba in only three months... from other company's point of view, only two or three were beneficial. Besides those earlier three, the rest died in accidents or by disease. One committed suicide and two were killed this week by Kira, after being indicated for corruption..." Raito answered, showing more graphs and another list.

"These three months after you were put in confinement and the killings stopped and then resumed... that intrigues me..." Ryuzaki said.

"That's true..." Raito agreed. "What do you think? I have to conclude that Kira is supporting Yotsuba."

"But if that's the case..." Ryuzaki realized.

"Yeah." Raito answered his unspoken question. "Kira can kill in ways other then heart attacks!"

- - - - - - - - - - -

"Watari?" I asked, poking my head around the corner and through the door to a surveillance room that the task force members and Raito hadn't been told about.

"Yes?" he asked, I was embarrassed about coming to see him, but I needed some advise.

I walked into the room. Watari was sitting in a comfortable looking chair, surrounded by computer screens and wires. There was a cup of hot coffee on the desk by the keyboard.

"Watari... h-has Ryuzaki ever said... I mean has he ever told you... that he.. loves something...?" I asked quietly.

"Loves something?" Watari repeated.

"Uh.." no turning back now, idiot, I told myself. "Yeah, like has he ever said that he loves ice cream? Or chocolate, or anything?" I clarified. It was a strange question, but I had recently noticed that Ryuzaki had never once loved anything, not that this fact mattered at all, I was just curious... that was all.

"_Hmm._.." Watari thought for a moment. "No, I can't remember him saying anything like that." he finally answered.

"Oh, I thought not..." I sighed, he had said that he liked ice cream and chocolate, but he had never said that he loved anything. "Hey, why do you think that is?" I wondered out loud.

Watari wasn't a psychologist, but he had known Ryuzaki for a while so he might know the answer.

"It may be, that he doesn't feel comfortable expressing such strong feelings towards anything or anyone." Watari suggested, but it was most likely a mere guess at the reason.

"Yeah, that might be it..." I acknowledged, sounding a little depressed.

"He got you that bracelet, didn't he?" Watari asked, "You still wear it."

"What? Oh, uh.. Yeah, he got it for me..." I said, looking at the silver bracelet around my right wrist. "It's, uh, too small to take off." I said, smirking a bit.

Ryuzaki had gotten me the bracelet for my seventh birthday and I hadn't taken it off since then, so now that I was grown up, the bracelet had grown too small to remove without cutting it off, and I would rather keep it on then ruin it.

"Well, I should go... I guess I'll see you later, Watari." I said smiling a little as I left the room.

I could never picture Ryuzaki loving anything, so it was only natural to wonder why.

I walked into the main room just as the task force ended some kind of meeting.

"Yagami-san should be back from the national police agency soon. We can decide how to attack then, but for now let's see what else we can do..." Ryuzaki suggested to Aizawa, Raito and Matsuda.

"I'll look into how Yotsuba is organized." Aizawa said.

"I'll see if I can hack into Yotsuba's main computer." Raito suggested.

"Uh... I will..." Matsuda began, but then he realized that there was nothing for him to do.

I sighed a little at the fact that Ryuzaki had finally found another hacker, even though that hacker was Kira– or had been Kira up until recently– I felt replaced, but if Raito wasn't Kira anymore, then it meant that he could help Ryuzaki with his cases and I could keep looking for death notes.

Not like I was doing such a great job at that, but it was better then nothing.

______________________________________________________________________________

**author's note: **I'm so sorry that I haven't up dated, I think I caught some kind of stomach disease or something, and then this morning I woke up with a splitting headache and I couldn't see strait, but I feel much better now thanks to Advil and Imeem. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Oh, and sorry this chapter's short, the next one is either going to be short again or really long, depending on how much time and energy I have to put into writing it.


	67. Chapter 67

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 67**

**Resignation**

Ryuzaki had been right, Yagami-san returned not long after that. But from the moment he walked in the door with Mogi behind him, I could tell that bad news was on it's way.

"Chief! And Mogi too, welcome back." Matsuda greeted them. "Things are going great! Thanks to Raito and my heroics, we've determined that Kira may be connected to the Yotsuba group!"

"Yotsuba?!" Yagami-san exclaimed.

"Y...yes." Matsuda confirmed, startled by his reaction.

"That must be it, well done." Yagami-san clapped Matsuda on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Matsuda wondered.

Ryuzaki looked over at the group for the first time.

"I just heard from the director that Kira has started bribing politicians." Yagami-san stated, gravely.

"Bribes? Using Yotsuba's money...?" Aizawa asked.

"Wow, this must all be connected. No wonder you had such a serious look on your face, Chief!" Matsuda said.

"That should aid our request to seek applicants to join the investigation. Did the director get approval?" Aizawa inquired.

"It's the opposite... the police have officially given up now." Yagami-san said.

"Huh?!" Matsuda and Aizawa cried in unison.

Ryuzaki, Raito and I turned around to face the task force.

"I've talked it over with Mogi, and he seems determined to remain here. Aizawa, Matsuda, if you want to continue going after Kira... you need to join Mogi and me... and resign from the NPA!" Yagami-san told them. "We're no longer able to seriously work on this case as police officers."

"What do you mean?" Aizawa asked.

"Yeah... aren't we working this case because we're the police?" Matsuda pointed out.

"It's simple. I was told we would be fired if we continued to work with L. They may have been threatened by Kira, but that's the decision from the top." Yagami-san answered.

"And you really intend to quit, Chief..." Matsuda asked.

"Yes, in a few hours I will no longer be the chief." Yagami-san stated. "Each of you has your own life. Take your time to decide. We aren't just risking our lives now."

"Yeah... especially if you have a wife and kids..." Matsuda agreed.

"I think you should all go back to the police." Ryuzaki said, no longer facing them. "I was alone in the beginning. Almost every police officer turned their backs to me when the treat of losing their lives became reality... with the support you guys gave me until now... I'll be able to continue this case on my own. And... I swear to return and see you guys one day with Kira's head."

"Ryuzaki, as long as I'm around, you wont be alone." Raito reminded him. "Don't forget about this." he said jingling the chain that connected them.

"Right, you will be with me until we catch Kira, Yagami-kun. But the rest of you should return to the police..." Ryuzaki noted.

"Wait, I'm not leaving. I'm not even on the force." I cut in, just so he couldn't forget I was there.

He looked at me, but said nothing, it was already obvious that I was staying.

"Ryuzaki, you're the one who said you'd need the help of the police for this case." Yagami-san said.

"I did, but that was because with you guys I could maintain a connection to the police, and I figured pursuing Kira as an organization would be more beneficial. Like during the Sakura-Tv incident for example... two or three civilians who have quit the force do not count as the police." Ryuzaki explained as he took a cherry from a bowl on the table. "And if the police have decided not to catch Kira... then forget about it."

"It's true that if we quit the police we won't be of much help to you... but... what about our feelings? We've come this far, risking our lives in the process. Whether we quit the police and pursue Kira or return to the police and give up, I think we at least deserve to make that decision ourselves." Yagami-san argued.

"You're right... then please choose." Ryuzaki agreed as he pulled a knotted cherry stem out of his mouth. I couldn't help but smile a little.

"But chief..." Aizawa said. "Frankly, if we quit the force, then we're unemployed... even if we catch Kira, what about the future? Like Matsuda said, you and I have a family. I don't know if I can sacrifice them for..."

"The future... eh?" Yagami-san considered. "I haven't thought about it, but... after I catch Kira...there's always a new career!" Yagami-san smiled.

"All right! I'm gonna quit the police and go after Kira with you, Chief!" Matsuda shouted, suddenly motivated.

"Matsuda..." Aizawa mumbled.

"I've finally been useful since some of my data pointed to Yotsuba's involvement, and I don't want to quit now. I also have my job as Misa-Misa's manager, so I won't be unemployed." Matsuda celebrated. "I only got the job thanks to connections anyway. My dad will be disappointed, but who cares?" somehow I wasn't surprised. "It would be pathetic to quit before catching Kira..."

"Matsuda, watch what you say!" Yagami-san ordered.

Aizawa looked down at the floor, he had a much harder choice to make in this situation because he had a family to take care of.

"A...Aizawa..." Matsuda murmured.

"Ryuzaki, how about if I return to the police but help out on my free time?" Aizawa suggested.

"No good. If you're going back to the police, then please do not return here. With this current situation, I will have to assume that anyone with the police is the enemy..." Ryuzaki answered.

Why was he saying that, though? He knew as well as I did that we could trust Aizawa.

"Come on... whether I'm here or with the police, you know I'd never reveal our secrets." Aizawa insisted. "No, you're right... the other officers would only see me as L's spy anyway..." he realized. "Well what about the benefit of having one of us at the police to monitor their movements...?" he tried.

"Nobody is stopping you from returning to the police and going after Kira on your own time. If there's something you want to tell us, then you can call Yagami-san whenever you wish. But we will never share our information with you." Ryuzaki said.

"Yeah... you're right, Ryuzaki... the information here must never get outside. Sorry for the lame suggestions." Aizawa sighed.

"I have nothing against a detective risking his life to chase after Kira. But I cannot see it as a correct decision to lose your job and cause suffering to your family for the sake of it." Ryuzaki said. "Dying in the line of duty is heroic, but dying while unemployed is just stupid."

"Ryuzaki's right. No one will blame you for quitting now, Aizawa." Yagami-san encouraged.

"Yeah, we won't think of you as a traitor." Matsuda agreed.

"But you have a family too, Chief..." Aizawa said.

"We are in totally different situations." Yagami-san disagreed. "My own son was suspected of being Kira and put in confinement because of what Kira did. You saw what happened. I can't turn back now... my ego won't allow it..."

"I haven't given up on the theory that Raito-kun is the first Kira." Ryuzaki mentioned.

"My kids are grown up. Yours still need you as their father." Yagami-san finished.

"It's not fair... it's not fair, Damn it... I want to keep going too... I've come this far, prepared to die at any time... and... if I quit now, how will I ever be able to face Ukita...?" Aizawa looked like he was going to cry. "Damn it! Why the hell can't a detective on the police force go after a criminal?!!"

"Ryuzaki..." Watari interrupted through the computer.

"What is it, Watari?" Ryuzaki asked, obviously expecting something important.

"In the beginning you had me make preparations so that everyone on the task force and their families would be financially secure no matter what happened, including if they were fired from the police force why are you not mentioning that?" Watari asked.

So that was it, I suppose it was obvious, Ryuzaki had pulled that kind of stunt before so it should have been obvious. I sighed and looked up at the large monitor that was showing Amane Misa's room.

She dialed one of her friend's numbers on her cell phone while drinking something from a restaurant cup. She was wearing a plain white tank top and sweat pants, I almost laughed the first time I had seen the outfit, because it was so similar to the white tank top and baggy jeans that I wore every day.

"Who asked you, Watari?" Ryuzaki inquired and I could tell that he wasn't pleased with what had just happened.

"Oh... sorry, I just couldn't bear to listen anymore..." Watari apologized as he realized his mistake.

"Whoa... so we've already been taken care of financially?" Matsuda asked. "This is great, Aizawa! As long as you're okay with giving up the title of detective, you can continue the case now!"

"Ryuzaki..." Aizawa said.

"Yes?" Ryuzaki asked, he must have known what Aizawa would say.

"You were watching to see whether I'd quit the force of not, weren't you?" Aizawa accused.

"Of course not, Aizawa Ryuzaki just doesn't like to reveal stuff like that." Yagami-san attempted.

"Yeah. You know he can be weird like that." Matsuda agreed. But bother their efforts were blown by Ryuzaki himself.

"No." he stated simply. "I was testing him. I wanted to see which he'd choose."

I saw Amane smile at something that was said to her over the phone, then as the conversation progressed she frowned and argued with her friend on the other line.

"All right... I'm quitting here to return to the NPA!" Aizawa decided.

"Aizawa..." Matsuda protested.

"I couldn't decide immediately like you guys, and I was leaning towards going back to the force..."

"Don't take it personally..." Matsuda tried to say.

"No, I'm quitting. This just made things crystal clear. I don't like Ryuzaki. I don't like the way he works." Aizawa said.

Amane laughed a bit with an embarrassed look on her face, I wondered if she had misunderstood what he friend had said to make her so angry.

"That's a normal reaction, Aizawa-san." Ryuzaki stated. "Though I like people like you."

"I also hate how you say corny stuff like that! I'm leaving!" Aizawa shouted as he turned toward the door.

"Take care." Ryuzaki told him, flatly.

- - - - - - - - - - -

"One less person..." Matsuda complained two days later, it was a bit odd that he hadn't brought it up sooner. "It's sad with such a large building. Plus Mogi hardly even speaks."

"I found another one, Ryuzaki." Raito said, ignoring Mastuda's pouting. "September 10th, slipped and fell at his home and died from a head wound. Junichi Yaibe, Iidabashi division manager for Otomo bank. He was scheduled to take over as president next month. He was widely known as the best man in the Otomo organization. And three days ago, the Otomo Bank company director, Tokio Yakoda was caught embezzling. He hasn't been arrested yet but if the recent pattern holds he'll be killed by Kira or commit suicide soon... Otomo bank is in crisis. At this rate Yotsuba bank will surpass them as the country's largest..."

"September 10th was a Friday, correct?" Yagami-san asked. "We've overlooked a simple thing. I reexamined our data and noticed that the deaths convenient to Yotsuba are concentrated on the weekend."

"Huh? Really?" Matsuda asked.

"Among the deaths in the last three months, the accidental deaths were scattered at first, but now more and more have been between Friday night and Saturday. This includes the three heart attack deaths Raito first noticed." Yagami-san answered.

"Wow, great work, Chief! Raito and Ryuzaki hadn't even noticed that." Matsuda congratulated.

"How many times must I tell you that I'm no longer the chief?" Yagami-san asked.

"You'll always be the chief to me." Matsuda smiled.

"The murders are being concentrated during the weekend...? why?" Raito wondered.

"That's odd... if these deaths are connected to Kira, then that would mean Kira can kill by means other then a heart attack. If that were the case, then he'd spread them out randomly to make them harder to detect... is there a meaning behind this? Is this not Kira's work...?" Ryuzaki said, probably to himself.

I was too busy being annoyed at the stupidity of this new Kira. The idiot was asking to get caught.

"I totally missed this... it could be valuable info, Dad." Raito said.

"I'm not going to take a backseat to you and Ryuzaki just yet. I need to pull my weight." Yagami-san stated.

"We don't know if Kira is _in_ Yotsuba or if Kira is _using _Yotsuba, or whether Kira is even involved. However, we will operate under the assumption that this is Kira's work. We will investigate Yotsuba thoroughly." Ryuzaki ordered.

At that moment, Mogi stumbled over to the desk under the weight of a large stack of papers. "I've completed the Yotsuba employee list, home and abroad." he said, setting the stack down.

"Thank you for doing the unglamourous work, Mogi-san." Ryuzaki said to him as he turned away.

"Over 300,000... amazing that Mogi could complete the task so quickly, great work." Raito commented.

"Mogi-san has always been surprisingly efficient." Ryuzaki stated.

"All right... then I better start..." Matsuda started to say, but his cell phone went off. "Oh, my manager phone..." he said.

Amane looked into the camera as she spoke into her phone. "Let's get going, Matsu!" she said happily, she didn't seem to mind having Matsuda as her manager.

"I'd like to help but I have to go..." Matsuda pouted as he left the room. No one seemed to notice.

"The number of employees is staggering, and just look at how many industries they're involved in... just where do we start?" Yagami-san asked.

"Kira is probably a high ranking employee, at the very least, he would have asked for a promotion after he got the power." I suggested.

"If only we had more people here." Raito said.

"But it would be difficult to increase our members now. I can't imagine many would quit the police to assist us." Yagami-san mentioned.

"We can't use the police. If an officer came saying he had quit, I'd assume he was a spy." Ryuzaki said.

I rolled my eyes, there was a point where caution became paranoia.

"Watari." Ryuzaki said to the computer.

"Yes?" Watari responded.

"Can you call Aiber and Wedy?" Ryuzaki requested.

"Huh? I know their current locations, but so you plan to show your face to them?" Watari asked.

"We already have a level of trust between us. And with a big case like Yotsuba, it would be complicated to have to contact them through you. I wouldn't be able to explain my thoughts as well." Ryuzaki answered.

"I understand. I'll get right on it." Watari agreed.

"Hmm? Aiber and Wedy are coming to visit?" I asked. "I haven't seen them in a while. Is it true that Aiber grew out his hair? Because I heard a rumor..." I trailed off when the remaining task force members gave me interesting looks. "Just wondering." I said under my breath.

______________________________________________________________________________

**author's note: **sorry, I didn't update again yesterday and this one isn't that exciting, but I won't skip any more days for a while, I feel much better now. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews. Oh, and about the parts in the middle with Amane-san, if you own the manga then you can check and she really is making faces on the monitors while the task force is talking. I thought it was funny.


	68. Chapter 68

**Disclaimer: **I don't own death note.

**Chapter 68**

**Breakthrough and Break**

It only took three days for Wedy and Aiber to drop everything and get to the building. I wasn't told where they had been or what they had been doing, but I knew it wasn't in Japan and it probably hadn't been completely legal.

"I'm Aiber, professional con artist. Nice to meet you." Aiber introduced himself as the pair of them walked into the main room.

"Wedy, I'm a thief." Wedy said as they stopped in front of the task force.

"A con man and a thief...?" Yagami-san asked, he was having moral issues with the new team members.

"Yes." Ryuzaki said, flatly. "Aiber is an expert when it comes to languages, psychology, and personality transformation. He possesses the skills to blend into all levels of society, and can always form a strong bond with his target. We'll use him to get close."

"Wedy is a thief who can get past any lock, security system and vault. The proof of her skills is that she was able to get into this building without any of us knowing. They're both seasoned..." Ryuzaki paused, either because he knew what reactions to expect, or just for dramatic effect. "...criminals." he finished.

"We'll be working with criminals...?" Yagami-san asked.

"They're slightly different from the criminals Kira punishes, though." Ryuzaki mentioned. "These two are pros, only known in the underworld. I also know of other criminals who could help us, if needed. Of course, none of them want to show their faces, and I will only show mine to those I trust. And some of them would have to live here with us. This is a tactic I couldn't really use while we were connected to the police, but with the way things are now..." he trailed off.

"I see, these kinds of people will be helpful in investigating Yotsuba." Raito said. "Let's all work together and solve this case."

"Yeah." Matsuda agreed.

"Yes..." Yagami-san muttered hesitantly, he still had moral issues to sort out.

Aiber really had grown out his hair, though I think he looked better that way.

Matsuda's cell phone went off a little later, and he left with Amane for the movie shoot. Raito stared blankly at the computer screen as I tapped my fingers on the desk.

Ryuzaki watched me tap out different rhythms on the base of the keyboard as Yagami-san and Mogi went over different pages of data.

I was half way through a nail version of Beethoven's fifth when Ryuzaki decided to focus on something else.

"Yagami-kun." he said, turning his back to me.

"Hmm?" Raito was distracted from whatever thoughts he had been preoccupied with.

"What's with the serious face?" Ryuzaki asked. As if he was one to talk, with all his sulking.

"Nothing, just tired from staring at the monitor all day." Raito answered. "I've hacked into the Yotsuba company computer, but there's nothing here that leads to Kira. Not that I expected them to leave that kind of evidence here, though."

"Wow, with skills like this, I bet you could have hacked into the police system too." Ryuzaki commented as he leaned over in front of Raito to look at the computer. I rolled my eyes.

"You're still saying stuff like that, Ryuzaki?" Raito complained. "You can suspect me all you want but I hope you're paying attention to what's going on right in front of us."

"You're right. We must catch the current Kira. There's no mistake that he will lead us to a final solution to this case." Ryuzaki said.

"Ryuzaki!" Watari called through the computer.

"What is it, Watari?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Detective Eraldo Coil has been asked to "uncover L's identity"... they went through two agents to try to keep the client secret, but I've determined that the request came from Yotsuba group's Tokyo office VP of rights and planning, Masahiko Kida. 100,000 dollars up front and 1,400,000 dollars on completion." Watari said.

"Great work, Watari." Ryuzaki told him.

"So it is Yotsuba!" Yagami-san exclaimed. "Eraldo Coil is said to be one of the best detectives out there, besides L. He's famous for taking any job, as long as the money is good, and he's near the top in terms of locating people..."

"If Yotsuba is connected to Kira and wants to know L's identity, then that means they'll kill you once they uncover it." Raito pointed out.

I wanted to laugh, it was unlikely that Ryuzaki had given up the name, which meant this guy was falling for an old trick.

"This is bad... we're already short handed here and now we also have to worry about Coil... and nobody knows what Coil looks like, either..." Yagami-san thought out loud.

"There's nothing to worry about. Eraldo Coil... is also me." Ryuzaki admitted. I smiled, not laughed, but smiled.

"Huh? You're Coil?" Yagami-san asked confused.

"The three top detectives in the world, L, Coil, and Deneuve are all me. Please don't tell anyone though." Ryuzaki requested. "People who are trying to uncover me usually fall for this. Watari acts as the intermediary for both Coil and Deneuve, so its' obvious."

"Nice one, Ryuzaki." Raito complimented. "There, found him!" he said as he pulled up another page on the computer. "Masahiko Kida. He's on the Yotsuba employee list."

"I can't imagine that a VP, even for Yotsuba, would be able to move around that kind of money so easily. Does that mean he's Kira?" Yagami-san considered.

"I don't think we can be sure of that." Raito told him.

"Really? Kira could get money in a variety of ways. Actually, he could probably extort Yotsuba with just the mere fact that he is Kira." Yagami-san suggested.

"That would mean that Kira would be raising Yotsuba's worth and making money off of that. But as you said, Dad, Kira wouldn't need to do that to make money. He could just threaten to kill the Yotsuba president unless he was given a large sum of money." Raito said.

"Yes, it's presumptive to assume that Kida is Kira just yet." Ryuzaki agreed. "Now that we've come this far, we can use Aiber and Wedy."

Ryuzaki explained his plan to the group, except for Matsuda who was still at the movie scene with Amane-san.

"So I just need to get close to him? No problem." Aiber stated.

"Yes. Thank you." Ryuzaki confirmed.

"And you want me to make it possible to get around the security cameras and systems at this Yotsuba company where he works?" Wedy asked.

"Yes." Ryuzaki said. "Now, everybody... I'm sure you understand this but I'm going to go over it one more time. The enemy is Yotsuba, but also Kira. With the heart attack deaths beneficial to Yotsuba and the fact that they are searching for me, these things are definitely connected. There's no guarantee that there's only one person with Kira's power, but if we search hard enough, we'll definitely find him."

"First we have to completely uncover _who_ has the power and _how may _have it. Assuming this power is the ability to kill with the mind as long as you know a person's name and face, it will be very difficult to uncover. And there's a small possibility that this power travels from person to person. That's why... we must not allow Yotsuba to figure out that we are investigating them, no matter what. We must assume that if that were to happen, we'd no longer be able to catch Kira." he continued.

"We will investigate carefully and quietly... and further more... we will only catch the person when we have enough evidence to sufficiently prove the existence of this power to kill and that the suspect was indeed using it. Uncover the evidence without being noticed... that's our only chance. Please do not... act out of panic or take matters into your own hands without my instruction."

"In order to not be detected, first Aiber and Wedy will..." but he was cut off.

"Ryuzaki..." Watari said through the monitor.

"What is it, Watari?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Matsuda-san is sending a distress signal from him belt buckle..." Watari reported.

"From where...?" Ryuzaki asked, annoyed.

"It seems to be coming from the Yotsuba Tokyo office..." Watari answered.

"What is Matsuda doing?! If he is uncovered..." Yagami-san shouted.

"If he's sending a distress signal, then there's a chance he already has been..." Raito pointed out.

"Then he'll probably be killed." Aiber sighed.

"Forget everything I just said... we'll need to rethink our plan..." Ryuzaki instructed. "Stupid Matsuda..." he muttered.

"Matsuda is supposed to be always watching Amane. So they're both in Yotsuba?" Yagami-san wondered.

"Who knows with Matsuda...?" Raito said.

"When Matsuda-san is outside, he's only carrying identification as Misa Amane's manager, Taro Matsui, correct?" Ryuzaki confirmed.

"Yes, we make sure of that." Yagami-san told him.

"Yagami-san, please call Matsui's cell phone." Ryuzaki requested, holding out his hand.

"Yeah..." Yagami-san dialed the number and handed over the phone.

"Hey Ryuzaki, isn't that dangerous?" Raito asked.

"I'll pull it off." Ryuzaki reassured him.

The phone rang, then Matsuda must have picked up because Ryuzaki started talking. "Yo, Matsui! It's Asahi, Asahi!" he said, without the voice dubbing he had to disguise his voice on his own. I clapped my hands over my mouth to help fight back hysterical laughter.

Matsuda said something and Ryuzaki continued.

"Oh, doesn't sound like you're outside, you at home?" he asked.

Matsuda answered.

"You alone?" Ryuzaki asked.

Matsuda answered.

Ryuzaki covered the mouth piece of the phone so only the task force could hear him. "Matsuda and Amane have separated and Matsuda is in Yotsuba by himself." he said.

"Wanna go drinking?" he asked into the phone.

Matsuda answered.

"Why? Your wallet is... in trouble again?" Ryuzaki asked.

Matsuda answered.

"Matsuda's in trouble." Ryuzaki announced to the task force.

"I'll invite you again next time then. Later." Ryuzaki finished his conversation with Matsuda and hung up the phone.

"Yagami-kun, please make a call to Misa-san's personal phone." Ryuzaki requested. I decided to wait for a better time to ask him when he started drinking.

"Right." Raito dialed. "No good, it's turned off. She must still be filming." he said after a minute. "Misa, it's me. Call me when you can, I'll leave my cell on." he closed the phone.

"What should we do, Ryuzaki?" Yagami-san asked. "Looks like Matsuda's there alone and from the sound of that call, it seemed like there was someone there listening in."

"Yes, he seems to be in big trouble." Ryuzaki agreed. "Though if Matsuda-san dies now, that will substantiate the suspicion against Yotsuba... anyway, any drastic actions right now would only cause them to notice us. Let's wait and see for now."

"Yes... we have no choice..." Raito decided.

We didn't have a choice, so all we did was sit there and wait until Raito's cell phone rang.

"It's Misa." he said as he answered it. "Misa it's me. Where's Matsuda?" he asked.

Misa answered him.

"Misa just received a call from Matsuda." Raito said, then he was silent for a while. Finally he spoke again. "Misa, listen carefully... don't go to Yotsuba..." he said. "It's not that..." he said after she answered.

"Yagami-kun, let's have Misa-san go. We may be able to save Matsuda-san." Ryuzaki suggested. "Misa-san will do as you tell her."

"Hold the line for a second, Misa." Raito requested.

Ryuzaki had already thought up some kind of complicated plan to save Matsuda, I kind of zoned out during the explanation, so all I really noticed was that Ryuzaki's math skills weren't what they had been a few years ago.

I zone out again while Raito explained the plan to Amane so by the end of the explanation I had gathered nothing that would make me of any use to anyone.

"Understand, Misa? We'll handle everything with Yoshida productions and the security measures. With your beauty, it should work!" Raito said. She must have agreed because a moment later he hung up.

"Yumi." Ryuzaki said, turning around in his chair to look at me.

"Hmm?" I snapped back to reality and realized that I should have been paying more attention.

"There's something I need you to do..." Ryuzaki trailed off.

I blinked a few times as I wondered how much help I could be in this situation.

"What?" I asked.

I hadn't expected the answer he gave me, and if I didn't feel compelled to help him, I wouldn't have been sitting in Amane's room, ten minutes later in the most annoying outfit I had ever put on.

It was purple, with thigh high leggings and a short skirt that matched the halter top that showed too much of my back and shoulders as well as a far-too-generous-for-my-liking amount of cleavage due to the heart shaped hole on the front.

I briefly uncrossed my arms in order to direct 'the finger' at the nearest security camera.

There were five other girls in the room with me, and as soon as Amane returned with the Yotsuba staff and Matsuda there would be seven of us.

It didn't take them long to get here, so I was forced to stand up, which caused me to attempt to pull my skirt down and my shirt up in order to cover as much skin as possible with the limited amount of fabric available.

Unfortunately I was singled out by one of the members who twisted a strand of my hair through his fingers as he attempted to make me let go of my shirt. I was far too busy trying to cover the hole in the shirt to notice him leading me to the couch.

By the time I finally decided that the hole wasn't going to shrink the pervert had managed to wrap his arm around me and had begun to play with the hem of my short skirt.

I knew I had to keep this guy happy, that was why I was here, and if I didn't act polite at least towards the perv, Ryuzaki's plan might not work as well. So, I tried to sit there and act interested in what he was saying. I caught his name in there somewhere, Higuchi, even his name sounded perverted and he was now stroking my thigh.

This was all Ryuzaki's fault, that jerk, he knew I had trouble keeping calm while someone's hand was groping around– the point is, I was going to make Ryuzaki pay for this when I saw him next.

Well, while I was here I had to be convincing, I wasn't an actress five minutes ago and I'm not one now, but I made an attempt. I leaned my head on Higuchi the pervert's shoulder and– with a great amount of effort– removed my hand from my shirt.

The pervert liked the sudden change and took it as a chance to stick his fingers up my skirt. I held my breath and closed my eyes while I tried to convince myself that if I wasted all my energy on this guy I wouldn't have the strength left to seriously injure Ryuzaki.

I looked around for Matsuda but I couldn't see him, then I tried to distract myself by finding a piece of the death note anywhere in the room. But that wasn't much of a distraction because I could already tell that the Yotsuba Kira didn't carry pages with him.

At that moment Matsuda burst through the door. "Man am I drunk! Feels great!" he said.

He crossed the room and opened the door to the balcony. "How about some fresh air?" he suggested. Then he walked out onto the balcony and turned to face the room.

"Hey everyone, look at me!" he shouted, hiccuping slightly. I knew my chance was coming. "It's the Taro Matsui show!"

"Oh, you know some tricks? _Ha ha._" Higuchi laughed.

"Yay! Go Matsui-san!" Amane cheered.

"All righty..." I heard Matsuda mumble to himself as he climbed onto the railing.

There were a few mutters of protest at first, but as he stood on the railing and put his hands down in front of him there was one Yotsuba employee who saw the danger.

"Hey, you're drunk, be careful!" the employee cautioned, I didn't know who he was.

"Whoa..." Matsuda said as he wobbled. "He he he... I'm always doing this. Don't worry. _Hic_"

"Stop it, you idiot!" a few more people joined in, protesting as Matsuda hoisted himself up onto his hands and attempted to walk across the railing. He didn't make it far before he lost his balance and fell over the edge.

He screamed as he went down and I took that as my chance. I stood up and ran for the door, no one noticed I was leaving but even if they had, all I would have had to do was yell his name or something to make it look like I was going to see if he was alive.

I had just enough time to get to the bottom floor of the building before Ryuzaki drove up in an ambulance truck, of course he wasn't driving but he was in the truck, then he and Raito lifted 'Matsui's corpse' into the back of the van.

I followed them in and as the door closed behind us I glared at Ryuzaki. He looked at me as Aiber got up and took off the wig he had been half-wearing. The ambulance drove around the corner then turned back around and parked behind the building.

I followed the group back into the main room. Then as we got close enough to Matsuda to hear him speaking about the experience he had just lived through, I caught up with Ryuzaki and Raito.

"Ryuzaki?" I asked sweetly, he turned around. "Do you know what I just went through?" I asked moving closer to him. Raito had walked a few steps ahead, but now he was standing in one place waiting for Ryuzaki.

"I..." but I cut him off.

"I just had the most disgusting experience of my life." I informed him, the sweet tone I had employed a moment before was gone.

I jabbed him in the chest with one finger. "That pervert, Higuchi, took total advantage of the fact that I couldn't upset him. And the only reason I couldn't just hit him, was because I was trying to help you with your plan to save Matsuda-san!" I was shouting now, and I was still only beginning.

"His hands were everywhere that hands shouldn't go! I mean, he was sticking his fingers up my skirt, rubbing my thighs and touching just about any piece of exposed skin he could find!!" I continued, jabbing him in the chest with every word, he was taking a step backwards with every jab.

As I continued, I took note if how Raito wasn't moving, which meant that Ryuzaki soon ran out of chain. "I wanted to hit him!! I wanted to hit him _soo_ badly!! But I didn't, and do you know why?!" he opened his mouth to answer but I wasn't in the mood for 'I'm sorry' "I didn't hit him, Ryuzaki, because I was trying to help you!! That was the only reason that I would ever have done that!!"

"And I'm _not_ ever doing that again– no not just that– Ryuzaki, you owe me a _huge_ favor before I do anything for you ever again!!" I hadn't actually thought up a very long rant, so I was already running out of things to yell about, but I had one more point that I needed to make.

"And do you know what the worst part was?!!" I asked, rather loudly, all other conversation in the room had ceased.

Ryuzaki was now out of chain, which meant that he couldn't back up any more. I took advantage of that, and rested my hands lightly on his chest and pressed close to him.

"The worst part..." I said, a hint of my former sweetness slipped through my tone. "...is that I wish it'd been you instead of him." I said flatly.

Silence.

Not the kind of silence that occurs when no one in a room is speaking, but the kind of silence that signifies that everyone in the room had just been killed.

That had been the most idiotic thing I had ever said, and I knew it. But unlike every other time in my life that I had said or done something stupid, I didn't back away, I didn't blush vibrantly and I didn't attempt to say anything to make it seem like an accident.

I stood my ground, pressed up against him, in front of the whole task force, I looked him right in the eye and said nothing else. He stared at me in shock for a little while, then he came to his senses and blinked a few times as though he was expecting me to disappear.

The silence stretched on until I felt Ryuzaki's hand on me. Where on me? His hand was up... my ...skirt.

I had never hit anything that hard in my life.

"_Pervert!!_" I shrieked as I balled my fist and punched him hard in the nose.

To my great shock, the blow was enough to knock him off balance, he stumbled backwards then fell. Raito, who had been completely silent since we had come in, was pulled by the chain and lost his balance as well.

I wanted to kick Ryuzaki while he was on the ground, but his nose was already bleeding a little and I was too confused by my own actions to do anything else at the moment.

"I'm going to talk to Amane!" I announced, and I walked up the stairs, away from Ryuzaki.

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**author's note: **wow, I'm really late, it's 1:43 am, I should have started earlier. Well, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	69. Chapter 69

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 69**

**Second Date**

Amane squealed with joy and fell back onto the couch, kicking her legs in the air spastically.

"Misa knew it!" she cried. "You like Ryuzaki!"

I sighed, I had tried to tell her that I don't like Ryuzaki several times but she was insisting that I was lying about it.

"Amane-san, I don't like Ryuzaki!" I told her again. "In fact, I'm never speaking to him again." I said, crossing my arms and nodding firmly.

"Misa can't wait for the date!" she continued ignoring me completely. "I'm coming too, so I can tell you what to say." she sat back up and looked at me.

I finally realized just how bad an idea this had been. Amane was the only other girl within a mile of the building so I had come to see her, under the impression that she would know how to help. But she was doing just the opposite.

I pulled my skirt down again, I should have changed before coming in here.

"I'm not going on a date with Ryuzaki!" I insisted.

"Of course you are." Amane said seriously. "You know you were hitting on him."

"WHA?! No! I wasn't, and I'm not going on a date with him!" I shouted back, I was turning red.

All traces of Amane's bubbly personality were gone as she got off the couch. Was dating really that serious?

"You can borrow some of Misa's clothes." she said then she turned to the rest of the room. "Ryuzaki, turn off the cameras." she ordered.

The phone on the table rang and Amane picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked.

She listened to what the person on the other line said.

"Turn them off, you pervert! Where changing!" she cried into the phone.

She frowned as the person on the other line answered.

"Turn them off, Ryuzaki!" she ordered.

"Pervert!" I shouted randomly into the room, the cameras would pick it up.

Amane listened to the phone, then turned to me. "Ryuzaki says, that he has to keep the cameras on."

"Tell Ryuzaki that he's a perverted jerk." I said, turning away from Amane and the phone.

Amane repeated the message.

"Ryuzaki says, that he only acted perverted because you're wearing such a revealing outfit." Amane told me.

"Humph, well tell Ryuzaki that I'll remember to walk around in snow gear from now on." I grunted.

Amane repeated the message, even though Ryuzaki could hear me through the cameras.

"Ryuzaki says, you look nice the way you are!" Amane repeated happily.

"Well, ask Ryuzaki if I feel nice too!" I shouted, turning around and glaring at the phone as if it were the pervert himself.

Amane opened her mouth to repeat the message but Ryuzaki had heard me and answered quickly.

"Ryuzaki says, you asked for it." Amane said, frowning.

I frowned too. "I did not!" I shouted directly to the cameras.

"Ryuzaki wants to know if you're still not talking to him." Amane said.

I glared and turned back toward Amane.

"Tell Ryuzaki that I'm going to my room to change, and I'm never coming out again!" I shouted.

Ryuzaki didn't give Amane time to repeat the message.

"Ryuzaki says, he's sorry." Amane told me.

"Well tell Ryuzaki, that if I find one copy of this tape anywhere, I'll shove it down his lying throat!" I threatened.

Ryuzaki hesitated long enough for Amane to repeat my threat.

Then he finally answered.

"Ryuzaki says, he'll turn the cameras off for ten minutes." Amane relayed "he sounds really sorry." she told me, but I wasn't going to forgive him.

She hung up the phone and we waited for the cameras to turn off.

Once they had turned off, Amane grabbed my wrist and led me to her unusually large closet.

She dug through the contents of the walk-in closet, throwing clothes onto the floor at her feet. I waited by the door while she tunneled through the fabric.

"Here!" she cried showing me a... something... there was so little fabric on the garment that at first I didn't know what she wanted me to do.

"Uh, Amane-san..."

"Misa." she corrected me.

"Ok, Misa-san, I don't think..."

"You're right, this is too much for a first date." she cut me off.

"I'm not going on a date!" I shouted, but she wasn't listening. She dropped the cloth on the floor and burrowed back into the depths of her closet.

"Yes you are..." she said as she dug in deeper. "And Misa and her Raito are coming to help you..."

_Her_ Raito?

"Ha! I found it!" she exclaimed as she held up a dress.

It was short, black, low rise and tight fitting.

"Uh..." against my better judgement I was considering the dress, then I remembered that I wasn't going on a date.

"Amane-san–" she cut me off.

"Misa." she corrected me again.

"_Misa_-san," I repeated, "I'm not going on a date with Ryuzaki." I didn't shout, but I said it rather pointedly.

"Yes you are, now put this on." she ordered.

She shoved the dress into my hands and pushed me into the closet before I could protest, the door slammed behind me.

"Amane-san!" I cried, as I tried to open the door.

"Misa!" she shouted back, the wood of the door muffled her voice.

"Let me out!" I ordered, ignoring the name all together.

"No! Put the dress on, then Misa will let you out." she said.

I crossed my arms, at first I was intending to wait in the closet until Ryuzaki turned the cameras back on and noticed I was missing. But then I realized that I wasn't ok with the idea of waiting for Ryuzaki to help me out.

And the dress probably covered more then the shirt and skirt I was wearing. I changed.

I had never worn a dress before, so that alone was a new feeling, but the most trouble came from the fact that it was almost shorter then the skirt I had been wearing.

I knocked on the door of the closet. "Ama– Misa-san, let me out." I said.

She peeked through the closet door to make sure I was changed, then opened the door all the way and let me out.

"Happy now?" I asked, sarcastically.

"Yes." she smiled, "now wait here while Misa changes." she ordered.

Then she walked into the closet and closed the door, I heard bumping and scuffling as she tried to find a decent outfit.

There was a full length mirror next to the closet door, so I took the chance to see what I looked like in the dress.

It was really short, almost short enough to be a long shirt instead. It was black, and showed a lot of skin, which made me realize how unnaturally pale I was. The neck line was pretty low and the straps didn't sit on my shoulders so from my head to below my collarbone there was no fabric.

The dress clung tightly to every curve and line on my body, and almost blended in with my long black hair. I tried to hold my hair back to get a better look at the dress, while I leaned closer to the mirror so I could get a better look at the feint purple bags that were finally forming under my eyes.

There was a final bump from inside the closet and the door was flung open, I dropped my hair and straitened up.

"Ok." Amane said. "Let's go."

"Am– Misa-san, I'm_ not_ going!" I insisted.

"Of course you are!" she cheered, "trust Misa, with my help, you'll be together forever!" she punched the air happily.

I decided to stop wasting my breath.

We left the room and walked towards the elevator, I was pulling my dress as far up and as low down as it would go the whole time. I couldn't wait to get back to my room and change into my own clothes.

The elevator opened on the bottom floor and I stepped out without thinking, Amane stayed where she was so I turned to look back at her. I realized that she was waiting for something, so I looked ahead just as I collided with Ryuzaki.

He grabbed my arms and held me away from him so that he could look at me. His eyes swept up and down as I tried to hold the top of my dress up while I held the bottom down. I noticed that his nose must have still been bleeding from when I'd hit him earlier.

I grabbed his sleeve and used the white fabric to wipe the blood away. Because I had removed my hand from the top of my dress to wipe his nose, his eyes dropped to look down my shirt. I tightened my hand on his sleeve when I noticed what he was doing, but I was interrupted by Amane.

"Raito!" she cried happily, as she ran past Ryuzaki and I to latch onto Raito's arm.

I glared at Ryuzaki and attempted to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let go.

"Yumi..." he tried to say, but I looked away.

Amane caught my eye and tried to tell me what to do, using some form of sign-language, Raito looked at her oddly.

"... I'm sorry..." Ryuzaki attempted.

"Liar." I spat, crossing my arms.

"I'd like to make it up to you." he offered.

"No thanks." I refused.

He ignored me.

"Would you like to go out to dinner?" he asked.

I blushed and looked back at him, I had no idea what to say, but I was mad at him so...

Amane cut in, releasing Raito's arm and running over to stand between Ryuzaki and I, while holding her hand over my mouth so I couldn't say no.

"Of course! She'd love to go out with you, and Misa will come too!" she smiled, looking at Raito.

I frowned, going to see her had definitely been a mistake.

Ryuzaki frowned, a date with Amane wasn't what he had, had in mind apparently.

I was still hoping that he wouldn't take her answer as a valid yes, but I wasn't that lucky. So about half an hour later the four of us were seated in a nice restaurant.

I was sitting on the edge of the booth, as far away from Ryuzaki as I could while he was sitting next to me, Raito was sitting to his right, and Amane was sitting to _his _right, latched onto his arm and watching Ryuzaki and I like a hawk.

I glared at the wall to my left in an attempt to avoid Ryuzaki's eye, the waiter had taken our orders a while ago, and between the two of us, Ryuzaki and I had ordered the entire dessert menu.

Amane tried to start a conversation, so I would stop ignoring Ryuzaki, but she picked the wrong topic.

"So, what guy do you like Ryuzaki better then?" she asked, smiling evilly.

"Cut it out, Amane!" I yelled, I wanted to get close enough to properly yell at her, but Ryuzaki and Raito were sitting between us. In order to fix this problem, I climbed onto Ryuzaki's lap, I hadn't done it because I wanted to, Amane's words had simply made me too angry to think clearly.

Because of Ryuzaki's sitting position, balance was difficult to maintain. In an attempt to stay vertical, I drove my knee into Ryuzaki's stomach while I pushed my hands against his legs. It was an odd balancing act, but it worked well enough for me to continue arguing with Amane.

"I hadn't meant that when I said it!" I shouted, Amane took the chance to climb into Raito's lap in order to continue arguing.

Ryuzaki attempted to tap my shoulder, so he could get my attention but I ignored him.

"I was just saying that anyone was better then that pervert, Higuchi!" I felt Ryuzaki lose his balance and drop his knees, I grabbed the front of his shirt to avoid falling onto the table. Once we had steadied ourselves again, he resumed tapping my shoulder.

"Higuchi?!" Amane repeated.

"Yes." I said, firmly. Ryuzaki continued with his attempt to get my attention, I continued ignoring him.

"Higuchi is such a pervert!" Amane cried, "he was hitting on everyone in the room!" she shivered at the memory.

"Ha! See, wouldn't you say that anyone is better then him?" I asked.

"Yes!" Amane agreed. "You spent the most time with him too." she stuck out her tough.

"Exactly!" I nodded. "I don't know what it is, but I seem to attract all the perverts and freaks in the area." I had been thinking of Higuchi and that motorcycle guy from the corner store, but Ryuzaki stopped tapping my shoulder.

I hadn't responded to his tapping, but I had noticed it, so when he stopped, I looked over at him.

He looked back at me for a moment and I started to wonder if I had offended him with a comment that hadn't been directed toward him at all. He had asked me out, but that didn't mean much. He was just doing it to say sorry.

I stared at him in confusion, and he stared back with one of his unreadable expressions. I remembered that I was mad at him, but the reason why escaped me. Finally Ryuzaki's hand moved. I balled my fist, waiting for him to do something perverted so I could deck him, but he didn't.

He rested his hand on my shoulder and I saw Amane shaking with excitement out of the corner of my eye.

"Our food is here." Ryuzaki said quietly.

At first the words didn't register but as my brain started to work again, I turned around to see the waiter unloading several cakes, ice creams and a plate of fish with a side of soup and a salad.

I climbed off of Ryuzaki's lap and shook my head to clear my thoughts. Amane's excited expression changed to one of disappointment, obviously she had been hoping for something more interesting then a staring contest.

Amane ate her salad while she complained quietly about a wasted chance.

Ryuzaki and I simultaneously reached for a plate of cake, we disregarded the silverware in plain sight and grabbed a piece with our hands, we ate it then we picked up our glasses and drank. He drank his coffee while I sipped my chocolate milkshake.

We set our glasses down on he table at the same time and reached for the cake again.

Amane gaped at us, I'm sure that from her point of view it would look like we were doing the exact same thing at the same time, but I was a second or two behind him.

The rest of the evening wasn't very interesting, we paid the check and walked back to the office. We were walking because we weren't very far away and Ryuzaki wanted to keep Watari's face a secret from the two Kira suspects.

Outside the office Ryuzaki stopped me, Raito and Amane walked ahead a little before realizing they weren't being followed. Amane watched us with interest, but Raito had more decency and moved her as far away as the chain would allow them to go.

"Will you forgive me?" Ryuzaki asked, hopefully.

I considered for a moment, then sighed.

"All right, this time." I agreed.

He smiled slightly and leaned closer.

In panic I stepped back and held out my hand. "Friends?" I offered.

He seemed disappointed but shook my hand. "Friends." he agreed.

Amane pouted, but I ignored her.

"Good." I said, smiling. I wish I didn't always feel so awkward around Ryuzaki.

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**author's note:** this chapter is not early for today, it's just really really late for yesterday. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews. Sorry I kind of drawled on, it was probably boring. I'll update later today too.


	70. Chapter 70

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 70**

**Conning for Cash**

"Sure is small..." Matsuda complained as he read the morning paper, the article he was referring to was a note at the bottom of the page that read, **Misa Amane's manager dies in drunken fall.**

"I'm sure those eight would have checked, just in case. So now you'll be okay, probably..." Raito said, smiling.

"What? Probably...?" Matsuda asked, worried.

"Since Matsuda-san no longer exists... do you want to take over as Misa-san's manager, Aiber?" Ryuzaki asked.

"No, I have my own plans." Aiber answered.

"Okay, then the new manager will be Mogi-san..." Ryuzaki decided. "Anyway, thanks to Matsuda-san's screw up... we can now assume that among these eight, at least one of them has a connection to Kira. We can now examine each of them more carefully."

"So if Matsuda's story is true, then one of these eight is Kira, or connected to Kira." Yagami-san said.

"It's true! I heard them say they'd use Kira to kill someone." Matsuda insisted.

"Ryuzaki, even if all eight of them have the power of Kira, is it correct to assume that they cannot kill with just a person's face, like the second Kira?" Yagami-san asked.

"Yes..." Ryuzaki answered. "If they could do that, then I'd have a hard time believing Matsuda-san would be alive now."

"Huh...? oh yeah... I really was in trouble, wasn't I...?" Matsuda realized.

"Well, I've got a plane to catch." Aiber said, and walked out of the room. He was flying to France for one reason or another.

"We haven't been able to uncover any deaths that would implicate any of them personally." Raito reported. "I figured that if they were using Kira's power to increase the wealth of Yotsuba corporation, then they'd also use it for their own personal benefit but..." he trailed off.

"So they aren't able to use Kira's power freely then...?" Ryuzaki suggested. As he pushed and ohagi into his mouth without removing the wrapper.

"Or perhaps they're being careful so that even if Yotsuba is suspected, they won't be personally." Raito thought.

"Either way, he's assembled a group to make the decisions so the person must be a stupid coward who can't do anything on his own." Ryuzaki stated.

"So the meetings happen on Fridays, and then killings occur from Friday night to Saturday. I'd like to be able to prove that conclusively." Yagami-san said.

"I heard it with my own ears, there's no doubt!" Matsuda told him.

"'I heard it' isn't enough evidence." Yagami-san pointed out.

"Right now Aiber is working to get close to one of the eight and Wedy is concentrating on breaking through the security of the Yotsuba building. If things go well..." he spit out the wrapper of his ohagi, I laughed. "This Friday should be very interesting."

- - - - - - - - - -

I was bored. There was no other way of putting it. All I could do while I waited for Aiber to call was sit on my bed and stare at the ceiling, my room was large and my bed was bigger then was really necessary, but it meant I had more room to move around.

I got up and walked down to the kitchen, there was no one there so I opened the refrigerator and looked for something to snack on.

There was left over cake, some of Ryuzaki's ohagis a few gallons of ice cream and a slice or two of pie. I couldn't remember when I had seen the pie being made/bought/eaten, but pie was good and this was apple pie.

I took one slice and a tub of vanilla ice cream from the fridge, sat down at the table and began to eat. It was good. Once I had finished I put my dishes in the sink and left the kitchen, the task force was in the main room. I had gotten there just in time to here Aiber start his explanation of what he had been doing.

"Ryuzaki, I was able to contact the eight indirectly and they are starting to trust me, though not yet completely. I'll be coming back to Japan tomorrow." Aiber said through the computer.

"You sure work fast, Aiber." Ryuzaki complimented.

"At this rate they'll soon be asking me for my opinion and wanting to meet." Aiber continued.

"Aiber..." Ryuzaki stopped him. "Showing yourself before them is very dangerous. Please be careful..." he requested.

"I understand. But you've saved me more then once, L. And anyway, with the evidence you have on me, I'm looking at a life behind bars. This is a lot more fun then that. One reason I can't quite being a con man is the thrill of it." Aiber said. "Oh yeah, I've gotten 5 million off them so far, but is it okay if I start thinking up a way to hand over a fake L and collect another 10 million?" he asked. Figures.

"All right, I'll think about it as well." Ryuzaki agreed. I rolled my eyes, he didn't seem to understand that conning multimillion dollar companies out of there hard stolen cash was a legal grey zone.

"He's trying to con them out of ten million dollars with a fake L..." Matsuda mentioned.

Yagami-san and Raito frowned at the plan.

"It's all part of the investigation." Ryuzaki lied.

"Infiltrating Yotsuba as Coil, smart thinking by Aiber." Raito commented.

"I don't appreciate him using my other self like that, but I'm staying quiet since it's a good idea." Ryuzaki mentioned.

"Ryuzaki, Wedy's on the phone now." Watari announced.

"Put her through." Ryuzaki said.

"Talk about disappointing..." Wedy began without bothering to greet anyone first. "The Yotsuba security system is nothing special at all. They just have a few security guards. As long as I know the guards' schedule, it's no problem to plant the surveillance gear in the meeting room." she complained.

"I'd like you to help out the peeping tom Watari's hired and sneak into the meeting room late tomorrow night and install the cameras and bugs." Ryuzaki requested.

"Okay!" Wedy agreed, and hung up.

"Things sure are going well... I'm so excited!" Matsuda certainly looked excited.

"You're right, Ryuzaki. If they have another meeting on Friday, it will be very interesting." Raito said.

"Yes." Ryuzaki agreed.

- - - - - - - - - -

Friday came too soon for me, I was starting to get worried about how stupid the Yotsuba Kira really was. If he got caught, it would give Raito a chance to touch the death note and regain his memories. But if he didn't get caught, the Kira killings would continue. Basically it was all riding on whether or not Raito still wanted to be Kira.

If he had given up the death note because he didn't want to kill anymore then everything would be fine even if the Yotsuba Kira did get caught. But if Raito had made some kind of elaborate plan to give up the note, then to get it back later and continue the killings I would have to find and destroy the notebook before the Yotsuba Kira could get caught.

The Yotsuba group walked into the meeting room and took their seats.

"We're all here, let's begin the meeting..." one man said.

"It's later then Matsuda said, but they are starting a meeting..." Raito mentioned.

"My heart's pounding! They're about to start the secret meeting I uncovered with my heroics..." Matsuda celebrated.

"With your stupidity..." Ryuzaki corrected him.

"But I only see seven of them..." Yagami-san pointed out.

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**author's note: **that was short, sorry but I finished a volume of manga and wanted to cut it off there. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	71. Chapter 71

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 71**

**Fork**

"Black suites and black ties, who do they think they are, the mafia?" Matsuda criticized the group.

"Actually, there's only seven of them, so maybe they're in mourning." Raito suggested.

"Wait, you mean one of the eight has been..." Yagami-san trailed off.

"Yes, they probably killed him..." Ryuzaki stated.

"For the future advancement of the Yotsuba group... who shall we kill?" the large bald man said, he seemed to be leading the meetings. Did that mean he was Kira? No, not necessarily.

The task force and Raito seemed shocked at how outright the question had been, Matsuda pointed at the screen and shouted about how he had been right.

"Before we get to that, there are a few issues we need to discuss." the man said, Ooi was his name, or something close to it. "First, concerning Hatori's death..."

"It couldn't be helped. Frankly, I'm relieved he died." a man with longer black hair commented.

"You're relieved our comrade died? What are you saying, Namikawa?" another man questioned from across the table.

"It was necessary for Kira to show us what would happen if any of us tried to leave these meetings. I had been hoping for this to happen since Tuesday, when Hatori said he wanted out." Namikawa said, calmly.

"Yeah." the man, Ooi, agreed. "I think you all under stand the meaning behind Hatori's death... keep that in mind for the future. Next, about the report received from Eraldo Coil..." he continued.

"So this is what we paid 5,000,000 dollars for...?" Higuchi asked. I shivered.

"The Japanese police have withdrawn from the Kira case and only a small number of government officials and high-ranking police leaders know of this. Currently, L is working alone with no aid from any country." Kida read from a stack of papers. "Judging from L's actions up till now, he will not give up on the Kira case, even if it means working alone. It's believed that he entered Japan once he concluded that Kira was in the eastern region of the country."

"'Believed'...? how about some facts?" Higuchi complained. "We know nothing important, like L's face or name..."

"L has a representative, Watari, who appears in his place before the ICPO and others. His dealings with the police are done through Watari's computer, and Watari has been spotted going in and out of the NPA. An investigation into Watari is also under way."Kida continued.

"This is pretty good for just three days." someone else said.

"Idiot, this means that even though Coil is L's rival, he barely knows anything about him. This isn't stuff he discovered over the last three days." Higuchi cut in.

"Hey... if you assume that L is better then Coil, I just..." one man tried to say, but he was cut off by Ooi.

"Hold on, at the end of the report Coil warns us not to take L's existence too lightly. Look where he says 'this pace... especially the concentration of killings on Fridays and Saturdays could possibly be noticed by L.'" Ooi said.

"You have to be impressed with Coil's ability to figure out exactly what we're doing. We should spread the deaths out beyond just the weekend." a man who looked a bit like Raito suggested.

"You think? Coil figured out the client was Kida, and then investigated Yotsuba and uncovered this stuff, right?" I hated the sound of Higuchi's voice. "We've been very careful about how we've done things, nobody could have noticed it. L doesn't even know that Kira can kill without using heart attacks, there's no way he could make the connection."

"This is amazing, it's like they're confessing to everything." Matsuda commented.

"Yeah, won't we be able to arrest them with this video?" Yagami-san asked.

_In a world that I don't want to know with a message that I never want to send to be free from all of this I want you to quicken my end..._

Everyone turned to me as I rushed to answer my phone. I knew that Ryuzaki had issues with cell phones and that could have been because of me, but I had forgotten to turn mine off. I opened the phone and turned away from the glares and odd looks of the task force. My ring tone was American.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone, as I walked farther away from the task force.

"Yumi!" Amane's cheerful voice made my head hurt, "come up here, I have a surprise!" she cried.

"Amane-san..." I sighed, what was I supposed to say to that? How had she uncovered my number? Was she secretly working for the phone company? Those, as well as many other stupid questions, ran through my head as I tried to formulate an answer. "I can't." I tried.

I could here her mood deflate. "Come on! You'll like it." she tried to tempt me.

"I–"

"You should go see what she wants." Ryuzaki said from his chair, I realized how distracting I was being.

"Fine, I'm on my way up." I said into the phone, then I snapped it shut before she could respond.

I ran up the stairs to the next floor then I called the elevator.

I was blushing with anger at how stupid the phone call had made me look. Ryuzaki would probably never shut up about it...

I got in the elevator and swayed back and forth as the floors passed by. At the top, I got out and walked down the hall to the room that Amane used the most, probably because it was the room with the biggest closet.

"Aman–"

"There you are! Look, Misa got paid early for the movie I'm shooting!" she smiled brightly holding up a check. "Now we can go shopping!"

"Shopping...? Amane-san, is this what you called me here for?" I asked, there wasn't much hope of me returning to the main room before the meeting was over.

"Hmm? Yeah..." Amane answered, confused.

I sighed.

"You can come to the movie shoot tomorrow, then we can go to that mall down the street! Mochi won't have to come if you do, and I can help you buy a new outfit!" she smiled.

"Amane-san, I don't think I could go to a movie shoot with you– wait, what's wrong with my outfit?" I asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Uh..." she didn't know how to answer.

I was wearing the same thing that I always wore, a white tank top, baggy blue jeans and my silver heart necklace along with the bracelet from Ryuzaki. Of course I hadn't had time to brush my hair when I had gotten out of the shower a few hours before, so I looked a bit disheveled, but that wasn't a really bad thing.

Amane changed the subject to avoid insulting me.

"So, what were you doing?" she asked.

"Well, I was watching this..." I tried to answer.

"Oh! Were you watching a movie with Ryuzaki?!" she cried out, cutting me off.

"What is it about me and Ryuzaki, no, what is it about Ryuzaki– and me, completely separately– that's so interesting to you?" I wondered.

"Ryuzaki's weird." she stated. "And I think he needs a girlfriend to fix it."

"What?" I asked, before I thought, it had been a weird answer.

"And you have a lot in common with him." she smiled. "You both wear the same thing."

"No we don't."

"you're always together."

"No we're not."

"And when you talk to each other, Misa can't understand half of what you're saying." she finished.

I decided not to comment on that.

"Well, that's because we're best _friends_, we're not dating and we never will, because we don't like each other that way." I stated, flatly.

She pouted.

I heard her mumble something like "Misa will fix that..." under her breath, but before I could comment on it, the door to the room opened.

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**author's note:** sorry, I say that a lot, I couldn't up date for the last two days. The real ring tone on Yumi's cell phone is one of those _bip bip bip_ things that's much less distracting, but I used the song Criminal by Disturbed– I don't own that song– instead because it's currently one of my favorite songs. Sorry that this note is longer then the chapter but I just got back and I needed to rush a bit, I will make up the two chapters that I missed as soon as possible. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	72. Chapter 72

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 72**

**Growth**

It was Raito and Ryuzaki, of course, and Amane reacted immediately.

"Raito! Do we have a date today?!" she asked, excited. "With Ryuzaki..." she whispered to me, evilly.

"Misa-san, do you love Raito-kun?" Ryuzaki asked, ignoring her question and crossing to the couch we were on.

"Huh...?" she wondered. "Oh... yes... very much..." she answered.

"But you admire Kira, too?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Yes..." Amane answered, getting suspicious.

"Then which do you like more, Raito-kun or Kira?" he asked.

"Huh? Obviously Raito!" Amane squealed as she latched onto Raito's arm. "I'm thankful to Kira, and at one time I wanted to meet him, but that's not love. I totally chose Raito!"

Raito didn't look too pleased about this.

"Raito-kun wants to capture Kira, correct?" Ryuzaki moved on. I watched the interrogation from my place on the couch.

"Yeah, of course." Raito said, flatly.

"He wants to capture Kira. What do you make of that?" Ryuzaki asked Amane again, he leaned closer to her and she leaned away.

"If Raito wants him caught, then I agree." Amane stated.

"Then if you could help Raito-kun, you would want to join the investigation and assist him... right?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Ryuzaki..." Raito started.

"Yes! Misa would do anything to be of use to Raito!" Amane cried happily, she was devoted, but what was Ryuzaki thinking?

"Then who am I?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Huh...? I only know you as Ryuzaki... not that I want to know your full name..." Amane answered to the best of her ability.

"Then who is L?" Ryuzaki asked her.

"The person in the computer screen with the "L" letter." Amane answered.

"Yes, correct." Ryuzaki told her.

"Yay!" she cheered to herself, she made the small question look so important, and she had missed the true answer, but that was probably what Ryuzaki wanted.

"H-hold on, Ryuzaki..." Raito interrupted.

"Yes?" Ryuzaki answered simply.

"What are you doing?" Raito asked.

"I'm just investigating. Don't worry about it. I don't have much time. I'm desperate." Ryuzaki answered.

Is stood up at last. "Ryuzaki, what do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm only investigating..."

"No, what do you mean by 'not much time'?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"This case has been going on for over a year already and the longer Kira continues his work, the more people die." Ryuzaki answered. I had a feeling that it wasn't the real answer. "I have a feeling that Misa-san will be able to help us investigate."

"Don't be ridiculous. Involving Misa in something is more then just investigating." Raito cut me off before I could answer.

"Well, you got me there." Ryuzaki consented. "I'll have Aiber contact the seven of them as Eraldo Coil and have him tell them that 'during my search into L, I came upon info that Misa Amane may know L.' thanks to Matsuda-san's screw up, there's already a pinch to use her in a commercial anyway..."

"They'll definitely bite. Right before the two weeks when Kira stopped killing criminals, Misa-san was put in confinement by someone. Misa-san's parents were killed by a burglar who was later punished by Kira. Because of this, she reveres Kira and came to Tokyo right before the second Kira appeared. There would be nothing suspicious in Eraldo Coil being able to uncover these facts." Ryuzaki explained.

"And to add to that, he'll say "Misa Amane was arrested on suspicion of being the second Kira." he continued.

"Well, that is true." Amane reminded him.

"'However, it was a police mistake and Amane was paid off to keep the whole incident a secret.' nobody believed such rumors on the internet, but the seven of them will if it's coming from Coil. This will increase their trust in Coil. It will make them think that there was contact between Misa Amane and L, and that she may know L's identity."

"Yotsuba will definitely hire her for a commercial and ask her various questions. And Misa-san, all you have to do is let slip at the right time about how you look up to Kira and want to see him and so forth... based on your acting in the movie you're filming, this should be easy... you're a brilliant actress." he finished.

"Okay, sounds fun. _Umm_..." she looked up. "Raito, so you really want to catch Kira?" she asked.

"Yeah... I do, but..." Raito answered. "I may want him captured, but this is no good."

"Why not...?" Amane asked.

"Obviously because it puts you in danger." Raito stated.

"What? You're worried about me? Yay!" Amane cried, throwing her arms in the air. "But Misa has no problem doing this for you, Raito." she smiled.

"Listen Misa, if you think you know who L is, they'll want to make you talk no matter what. Who knows what they'll do?" Raito tried to convince her.

"Don't worry, Misa won't talk no matter what they do to me." she announced.

"Right, you won't." Ryuzaki sighed. he had tried.

"Kira can control a person's actions before death, so there's a good chance they could make her talk before killing her." Raito stated.

"There's no problem there." Ryuzaki said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, it was wrinkled and had vertical lines as though it had been shredded then put back together and photocopied. Ryuzaki held it in front of Raito's face.

"Here's a fax Wedy sent after she removed the cameras from the meeting room. They throw all the documents involved in the meeting into the shredder as they leave... I had her take all the papers out and recreate the original documents. The most interesting one among them is this one on the 'rules of killing' after reading this, it's crystal clear that they cannot kill with just a person's face. What they need is a face and a name. It also says that the name cannot be a mere nickname." Ryuzaki stated.

I turned pale. If that paper said anything about a notebook or a shinigami, I was in serious trouble.

"And on the 16th line in the 'controlling people before death' section it says, 'when killing someone, you cannot make them say something about a specific person. When another person's name is brought up in the language, the description does not go into effect and everyone dies of heart attack.' this means that they can't ask to 'make Misa Amane talk about L and die.' she'll merely die of a heart attack. And "L" is only a nickname." Ryuzaki explained.

"Hey Ryuzaki, that doesn't guarantee anything. Either way, once L is killed, they will kill Misa to keep her silent. I wouldn't want that..." Raito protested.

"Raito-kun, if we win, then Misa-san won't die. As long as we're handcuffed, we share the same fate, right? If I die then so do you. Then wouldn't Misa-san be the saddest of all?" Ryuzaki pointed out. But he wasn't completely right, I would be sad too.

"Either Raito-kun and I die or we catch Kira. Which do you prefer?" Ryuzaki asked Amane.

"Catch Kira! I couldn't live in a world without Raito!" Amane announced.

"That's right." Ryuzaki agreed.

"Come on, Ryuzaki. This is crazy." Raito continued to argue.

"I don't have time, I'm desperate." Ryuzaki repeated. "Misa Amane's guts and..." Amane frowned. "... her love for Raito-kun are the greatest in the world."

"R-Ryuzaki..." Amane mumbled. "I think I've been totally wrong about you this whole time... calling you a pervert and all... you really do understand me..."

"Yes, Misa-san is the perfect woman for Raito-kun." Ryuzaki stated.

_For Raito-kun_.

Amane threw her hands in the air and squealed with joy. "Thank you, Ryuzaki!" she cried, and kissed him on the cheek. I flinched for no reason.

"I could fall for you, you know?" Ryuzaki offered.

I tried to smile, hoping it was a joke but I was still glad that Ryuzaki wasn't looking at me, because I wasn't very convincing.

"_Err_... no thanks..." Amane refused. "How about being friends, Ryuzaki?" she suggested instead.

"Yes." Ryuzaki agreed. "I gained another friend." he mumbled, seemingly in aw of the fact.

"Yay, Raito's friends are Misa's friends. Let's all get along!" Amane celebrated. She reached for my hand, I tried to move away but she was fast, she grabbed Raito's hand too. And Ryuzaki grabbed my other hand. Amane then spun the group in a circle.

Ryuzaki stepped on my foot and lost his balance, the momentum of the spinning was the only thing that kept him on his feet. Then Amane stopped quickly and I felt Ryuzaki collide with my back as I tried to avoid hitting her.

"And Misa never betrays her friends. Leave it to me! With the four of us working together, Kira is in big trouble!" Amane smiled.

"Well, actually..." Ryuzaki interrupted. "Yagami-kun disagrees with my investigation methods and will be working with his father. So it will just be the three of us..."

"Huh? What the...?!" Amane protested.

"This is a dirty trick, Ryuzaki... now it's like I _have_ to join you guys..." Raito complained.

"No, of course not." Ryuzaki said.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're with us, Raito!" Amane ordered.

"Wait, why are we picking teams?" I asked, but I was too quiet.

"No, listen... I'm against doing things like this. It puts Misa in too much danger." Raito insisted.

"Raito, thanks for worrying about me." Amane said. "But let me do it. I want to be able to help you. I want to be of use to you and be loved by you more. Plus... I would gladly die for you."

She_ was_ devoted.

Raito couldn't protest anymore, so with a long drawn out sigh, he agreed to help.

"Why are we picking teams?!" I asked.

"The task force and I had a disagreement, so for the remainder of the case we will be working separately." Ryuzaki finally answered.

"Oh..." I realized what that meant for me...

"Misa-san, perhaps you could..." Ryuzaki started to say, but I wasn't paying attention.

If the task force and Ryuzaki had split up, naturally I was going to work with Ryuzaki, but Ryuzaki could use that to his advantage in several ways. Because I wasn't going to abandon him at this point even if he wanted me to, he had something he could use against me...

"I'm not going to seduce them, I already have Raito! What are you thinking?!" Amane shrieked, as she pulled at Ryuzaki's hair. I snapped back to reality just in time to catch the nervous look on Raito's face. That made me laugh.

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**author's note: **:p I'm late again. Tomorrow I'm going somewhere, so if I can update in the morning before I leave then I will, but if I can't then I'll make up all the chapters I missed this week on Sunday. Also, thanks for pointing out my name flub in the last chapter, Mogi-san was the manager at that point, but I put Matsuda instead, my bad, I'll fix it now. I just wasn't thinking. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	73. Chapter 73

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 73**

**Bargain**

"Yumi." Ryuzaki said as he, Raito and I walked down the hall to the elevator.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"There's something I need you to do."

I stopped sharply and turned around. "No way!" I said firmly. Last time he had said those words, I had been forced into Higuchi's arms. "I'm never doing anything for you again." I crossed my arms.

He sighed. "Isn't there something I could trade you for a favor?" he asked.

"Hunh...?" he wanted to make a trade? "Well..." sigh "...what do you want me to do?" I wasn't going to make any promises until I knew what I would be in for.

"I'd like you to accompany Misa-san to the interview as her cousin." he told me.

"Oh no!" I stated, stomping my foot childishly. "There's nothing in the world that could make me do that again."

"Yumi, Amane-san is capable of answering questions that are prepared ahead of time, but if the Yotsuba group members ask her something she can't answer, it would be best to have a failsafe." Ryuzaki explained.

"So let me get this strait." I said.

He waited.

"You want me to pretend to be Amane-san's cousin and go with her to the interview for the commercial."

"Yes."

"So that if she messes up and says something that could be fatal, I can cover for her."

"That's right."

"And you're willing to trade me something to get me to do it?"

"Of course."

"What are you willing to trade?"

"Almost anything."

"Really?"

"Yes. This could be very important."

"So what won't you trade?"

"Nothing involving theft, murder or the dismissal of such crimes."

"Ok... that leaves a lot of possibilities..." maybe it wasn't a good idea to offer me 'almost anything.'

"But you won't get anything if you don't help." he reminded me.

"I... no, I don't need anything." I decided.

"If you don't want to help with this plan, you can always join Yagami-san and the rest of the task force instead." Ryuzaki suggested.

"Wha?! So you're blackmailing me, now? Is that it? Either I help you or you kick me out?" I shouted.

Raito got bored with the conversation and walked past me to call the elevator.

Unlike Raito and Amane, Ryuzaki had no problem risking my life. Though he may have understood that I was safe from Kira.

"I would never do that." Ryuzaki said, almost sarcastically.

But he would, and I did have a stupid urge to go along with almost everything he said... I wonder if that's how Amane feels toward Raito– only I don't... love Ryuzaki...

I sighed. "What are my options?" I asked. The elevator opened behind me and Raito stepped inside, Ryuzaki walked after him and I followed as well.

"Options?" he asked, stubbornly.

"You know what I mean." I scowled at him. "What options do I have in this situation?"

"You could help with the interview." of course he supplied his favorite first. "Or, you could join the task force and help with their investigation."

"Only two choices?" and he was going to kick me off his team if I didn't do what he said.

The elevator opened again and Raito tried to walk out only to find that Ryuzaki wouldn't move.

"You don't have to help." he stated.

I frowned and considered refusing, Higuchi really was a horrible person, then I looked down at the floor. Neither of us were wearing shoes, I saw his toes wiggle and giggled despite the situation.

I looked back up at him and saw how oddly he was looking at me.

The elevator door began to close again, and Raito had to hurry back inside to avoid getting the chain caught in the door.

"Fine, I'll do it." I sighed. "But can I point out a few flaws in your plan?"

"Go right ahead." he allowed.

"First, there can't be two second Kira suspects captured at the same time." I pointed out.

"There were two Kiras." Ryuzaki said.

"Okay... second, Amane-san and I look nothing alike."

"She invited you to go shopping with her didn't she?" Ryuzaki asked.

"How did you know that?"

"If the two of you are seen in public together, then you could pretend you're related and simply haven't seen each other in a few years."

"Fine. Third, what if we get the commercial job? I'm not going on TV."

He had to stop and think about it, had he really not thought that far ahead?

"It would only be one commercial..." he mentioned.

"No."

Sigh.

"You could quit once you finish the interview, or fake an illness." he suggested.

"Come on, an illness? Why can't I fall off a building like Matsuda-san did?" I joked.

"You don't have to die to avoid being in the commercial." Ryuzaki pointed out.

"I was kidding." I stated. "You get more and more serious every day, Ryuzaki."

Ryuzaki glanced at the closed door of the elevator. We weren't moving, but we couldn't get out until we opened the door again.

"I'll go to the interview." I allowed. "But I'm _not_ going on TV."

- - - - - - - - - -

"Misa, you said you were going to meet Kira and left for Tokyo." Aiber stated.

He was sitting on the couch across from Amane and I, as we rehearsed for the interview.

"WHA?!!" Amane cried, falling over on the couch in shock.

I laughed into my hand.

"Misa-san, please stop with the total over acting." Ryuzaki requested. He spoke through a rolled up piece of paper like a director with a megaphone.

"What? But I thought that was perfect." Amane told him.

"Just try again." Ryuzaki ordered.

"Yes, yes, director Ryuzaki." Amane responded, sarcastically.

"Misa-san, take this seriously or I'll kick you." Ryuzaki threatened.

I laughed a bit more.

"Okay, we'll need to have Mogi-san participate too. I'll call him up." Ryuzaki walked over to the phone.

I switched couches to talk to Aiber while we waited.

"So, how's your wife?" I asked, smiling.

"Great, just had a baby last month." he smiled back.

"Oh! Congratulations, a boy or a girl?" I asked.

"A boy, looks just like his mom."

"I'm so happy for you." I told him.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a family around?

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**author's note: **I meant to make up the three chapters I skipped last week yesterday, but I'll have to do it tomorrow instead, I will get them done though! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	74. Chapter 74

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 74**

**Shopping Adventure**

Amane was annoyingly persistent, and the fact that Ryuzaki was intent on having the two of us seen in public together wasn't helping me avoid the shopping trip.

What made everything worse, was the fact that Ryuzaki and Raito had very nearly avoided coming themselves. The odd part of this being that Amane had in the end decided to omit them from the plans.

After Amane's movie shoot ended, the two of us walked down the street to the nearest shopping district. I hadn't ever been that close to the group of stores so naturally I had no idea what to do.

With experience lost to me, I defaulted to following Amane around as she searched for a particular shop among the sprawling district.

"Here!" she cried, happily as she pulled me by the wrist into the store.

The outside of the shop looked almost harmless, but as we entered I noticed just what kind of shop it was.

"Amane-san, don't you think you have enough clothes?" I asked, as I remembered the pile of cloth she had needed to tunnel through last time she tried to change.

She looked at me in disbelief. It was a classic 'how could anyone have enough clothes?' look.

"No." she stated. Then brightened suddenly. "But Misa isn't here for herself!" she chirped, she almost seemed proud of something.

"Are you looking for something for Raito? Because this may be the wrong store..." I pointed out. It _was_ a woman's clothing store. Not like she couldn't by something for Raito that she had to wear, suggestive as it may sound.

"Nope!" she sang happily. She was starting to creep me out a bit. "Misa is here to help Yumi!" she announced.

"I don't need any help." I said, as I looked around at the gothic-style store.

Amane pouted. "Of course you do! You wear the same thing every day!" she insisted.

"No I don't." I disagreed. Even though it looked like I was wearing the same thing constantly, I really had a few copies of the same outfit. I would wear the same clothes for a few days at the most, but then I would change and it wasn't like I went without showering.

"Yes you do!" she pushed.

"No! And I'm perfectly fine with what I have!" I argued.

She smiled, evilly at me and spoke in a calmer tone. "You know, Ryuzaki might like you more if you showed more of your figure." she teased.

I turned red and spun around to look at a rack of short lolita skirts.

"Right! A skirt would make him notice you easily!" she said, walking up behind me.

I immediately dropped the skirt I had been examining.

As I rushed to pick it up I noticed a group of girls on the other side of the store, they were whispering to each other and pointing at Amane. I assumed that one of the things they were saying was 'is that Misa-Misa?' and suddenly something dawned on me.

"Hey, Amane-san?" I asked, straitening up and returning the skirt to the rack.

"Misa." she said firmly.

I rolled my eyes. "Misa-san?" I corrected.

"Yes?" she asked.

"What did Ryuzaki do when you first met him?" I couldn't stop thinking about how he had reacted to her picture the first time he had seen it, then he had taken to reading the magazine the picture had been in. He had even tried out some of the dating advice in the magazine... on me... so when he had met her, had he asked her out?

"He was such a pervert! First he stared at me weird, then he walked up behind me in a crowd and touched my butt!" she exclaimed.

"What?" I questioned, angrily, there was little or no reason for me to be upset, but I was anyway.

"And he knew I was dating Raito, too!" she decided to include.

"Uh– why do you think he did that?" I asked, nervously.

She could probably tell by the look on my face, that I would be easy to bait in this situation and she took advantage of it.

"Why? He did it because I was wearing a really short skirt, and I wasn't watching him close enough." she shrugged.

I could tell that she was trying to get me to buy new clothes, but if Ryuzaki really would like me more, was it such a horrible price to pay? _That_ sounds stupid. I don't want Ryuzaki to notice me and I don't want him sticking his hands where they shouldn't go, again.

"Come on. If you wore something more flattering, he might even ask you out again." she tried to tempt me. I looked at her for a minute before answering.

"Would-would that really work...?" I asked, I felt so stupid. There was no way that I wanted Ryuzaki to like me like that. Sure there had been a few_ incidents._.. but I'm sure he was just testing me, or taking advantage of me for some reason. Liking me in that way would be lo- lo- man, that was messed up, I couldn't even think it. The point was, that Ryuzaki didn't care about anyone– _anything_– that way.

I sighed as Amane responded happily, whether I wanted to or not, I was now going to let her do as she wanted because of what I had just said.

However, she wouldn't just assume the obvious, she needed a clear declaration that she had won. In some ways, she and Ryuzaki were a lot alike.

"Fine. I'll take your advice on anything I need to." something dawned on me. "But _no_ bras." I insisted. I found the things annoying and uncomfortable so that was where I would draw the line, but I was really just trying to get my way in something.

Amane squealed happily and grabbed onto my wrist, pulling me into the depths of the store. She grabbed anything and everything that caught her eye as we passed, so by the time we reached the changing rooms, we had to take trips in and out with piles of clothes.

Finally she closed the door behind me and I was left alone with the mountain of fabric. I shivered at how much I had to try on, but set to work silently.

Every few outfits, Amane would pester me to come out and show her what I had on, then she would tell me how cute or ugly the clothes were.

I had reached the last outfit and was beginning to wonder how Amane intended to pay for the clothes she had deigned attractive, when there was a flurry of furious knocks on the door. "Yumi, are you dressed?!" Amane whispered harshly. She also seemed excited.

"Yes." I answered. I had been in the middle of looked the outfit over in the mirror. It was a thin-strapped, black tank top, and a short black skirt. I liked it because it was both comfortable enough to actually wear of my own free will and long enough to cover everything that needed to be covered. But as with all black clothes, I had to hold back my hair in order to see it properly, after the fifth black shirt I had tried on, I had tied my hair back with a ribbon that had been on one of the skirts.

Without my hair hanging to my waist and obscuring all my finer curves, I looked fragile and pale as opposed to disorganized and sleep deprived.

"Come out here!" Amane ordered, she sounded very spastic about something, so I pushed the door open to check what it was.

Ryuzaki and Raito were walking calmly towards us.

Amane smiled at me, and I immediately eliminated coincidence from my list of possible causes for this scenario.

"Amane-san, did you call them?" I asked, annoyed.

"What?" her eyes widened in fake shock. "Of course Misa didn't." she smiled evilly again.

"Hey, Misa," Raito said, looking annoyed, "what's the emergency you called us here for?"

I frowned.

"Oh, it's okay now! Misa and Yumi took care of it!" Amane chirped.

I decided to focus my attention on Ryuzaki while Raito scolded Amane about the phone call. Ryuzaki was obviously interested in his surroundings, he was busy examining every outfit within his range of vision, including the one on me.

Even though I had been entirely sure that the outfit was proportioned correctly and fit comfortably, I felt different about it now that Ryuzaki was here to see. I pulled at my skirt and attempted to raise the neck line of my shirt, this made me wonder if there was something about Ryuzaki, himself, that made me feel exposed in anything I was wearing.

"You look nice." Ryuzaki complimented me.

I blushed and looked away. "Thank you..." I tried to answer.

I decided to change back into my own clothes, so I turned back around and walked into the changing room. There was sudden movement behind me and I spun around to catch Amane with her hand in Ryuzaki's pocket.

Before I could react, Amane had pulled the key from Ryuzaki's pocket and was unlocking his side of the handcuffs. I frowned at what was going on, especially since Ryuzaki wasn't fighting back at all.

I took a step back towards them just in time to see Amane whisper something in his ear and shove him forward violently. He burst through the still open dressing room door and collided with me. I was sent tumbling backwards onto the bench as the door to the changing room slammed loudly behind Ryuzaki.

I shot back off the bench and attempted to force the door open only to find that it wouldn't budge. It was strange that I couldn't open it, because the door didn't lock from the outside, in fact, when it was locked it could only be opened from the inside. Which meant that a certain small, blond model was pressing all her body weight against the outside of the door, to prevent me from getting out.

I turned back to Ryuzaki who was watching me with mild amusement, thumb pressed against his lips.

"Aren't you going to help?" I asked.

I heard a muffled cry of 'Misa!' from the other side of the door. Raito obviously wasn't ok with this.

Then, I heard a rather discouraging sound. Amane shrieked a bit and then there was a loud bump, a tilting clatter and a crash. The door knob jammed under my fingers.

I felt the handle jiggle uselessly a few times, then Raito sighed, loudly. "Misa, now look what you've done!" he shouted.

"What? What has she done?!" I asked.

"Misa knocked over one of the lamps out here, I can't get it out of the handle..." Raito answered.

I pounded on the door. "Wha?!" I shouted.

"Raito-kun, you should go get someone to help. There should be shop employees nearby." Ryuzaki reasoned.

Amane coughed. "Uh... maybe not..." she mumbled.

"Misa..." Raito began to say.

"What do you mean no employees?!" I cried, Ryuzaki walked up behind me and considered the strong wooden door.

"Misa comes to this store a lot!" she cried, sounding rather proud of herself. "The manager trusts Misa and let her stay and shop while the staff goes on a lunch break!"

My jaw dropped.

"That does explain why no one was here when we arrived." Ryuzaki mumbled to himself.

"Misa! Ok, no... how long will the staff be gone?" Raito asked, he probably didn't mind that Ryuzai and I were trapped, but no one like him would want to stay in a gothic lolita store for more then a few minutes.

"Uhhmm... about thirty minutes..." Amane answered.

"What?!" that was the loudest of my cries. "We're stuck in here for half an hour?!"

"Don't worry." Raito tried to reassure me. "We'll go get help."

I heard the chain jingle as Raito and Amane walked away.

I banged my head loudly against the door, and slid down the wood until I was on my knees at Ryuzaki's feet.

He poked me experimentally with one toe and I tried to swat him away. "It's not that bad." Ryuzaki tried to encourage me.

"Ryuzaki, we're locked in a dressing room. That's pretty bad." I shot him down.

He sighed and leaned over me. He was bent almost double and still a head taller then me. I felt him wrap his arms around my waist then drop to his knees behind me.

"We'll only be here for thirty minutes at the most." he reminded me, resting his head on my shoulder. I froze.

My heart was pounding and I had no idea what he was trying to prove, but I stayed where I was. An act of unbelievable self-restraint. "Ryuzaki..." I breathed, he didn't seem to here me, even though he wasn't far from my mouth.

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**author's note: **I meant to update the chapters I owe today... but I didn't have as much time. I will post at least one more tonight– or early tomorrow morning if I'm being slow– but the other two, I'll have to make up sometime tomorrow or the next day. It will be done, though! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	75. Chapter 75

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 75**

**Dressing Room Incident**

Ryuzaki wouldn't let go for hints alone.

He leaned his cheek against mine and unwound one of his arms from my waist, using it instead to push a lock of hair behind my ear.

"I've never seen you with your hair up." he commented calmly. "It looks different."

I sucked in a breath and responded shakily. "Th-that's not true, Ryuzaki, you saw me with my hair up once when we were little... I always wore my hair up before I met you." I added.

He thought for a moment. "Ah, yes, I remember now." he said.

"That day when we first met, you said I looked better with my hair down." I blushed. " and I haven't worn it up since."

"You are now." he reminded me.

"Well... that was just to try on clothes..." I said.

"Then you don't need it anymore." he stated, and I felt his hand pull at the ribbon I had used to hold my hair back. A second later my hair fell back onto my shoulders and down my back. Ryuzaki let the ribbon drop to the floor like a discarded piece of paper.

I took a deep breath but continued to sit in his arms, he wasn't doing anything too perverted at the moment, and if I could keep him talking, he wouldn't get a chance to.

Of course this plan was destroyed only seconds later.

"Why don't you change back into your clothes?" he suggested.

I managed to turn around in his arms, shove my foot into his chest and push him into the full length mirror across the width of the small room, all in one fluid motion.

"Pervert!" I shouted. "What makes you think I would change in from of you?!"

"You have before..." he reminded me.

I turned a deep scarlet color and stuttered a bit before I could find a decent way to answer. "We were only twelve and we're best friends." I stated.

"Why are things different now?" he asked, biting his thumb nail.

"Well... because..." I didn't want to say something as stupid as 'we're older now' but it was better then giving him a mother-son lecture about the human body. He was probably just trying to annoy me anyway.

I stood up and moved to the bench, where I sat down as far away from Ryuzaki as I could. He ignored the hint and moved to sit next to me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that would bother you so much." Ryuzaki apologized, I looked away from him.

He sighed, and I could all but hear the words 'time to resort to force' in the exhalation. He slid one arm around my waist and rested his other hand on my cheek, then her turned my head so I could face him.

Stupidly, I didn't resist.

"Do you like me?" he asked, curiously.

"Do you comprehend personal space?" I retorted.

"You didn't answer the question." he stated.

"Answer mine first." I ordered.

"No, not at all." he said flatly. "Now answer mine."

I frowned. "What was the question?"

"Do you like me?" he repeated.

"Of course. You're my best friend." I stated.

"No." he shook his head. "Do you _like_ me?"

I stared at him, he slid his hand from my cheek to one of my wrists and grabbed it gently. Having lost the ability to use the hand I had already raised to stop him, he had no trouble sliding me down to lay back on the bench.

I now completely understood what he was asking me. He wanted to know if I lo- if I lo-dang. Even if I did, though, now this was about pride which meant that he had to say it first. I probably couldn't anyway...

Ryuzaki was laying _on top _of me and I couldn't take it. My vision blurred and my heart started pounding even harder then before. I tried to use my remaining hand to push him away, but it was pinned to my side by his arm.

I carefully moved my arm out of his hold and tried to move it up towards his chest to push him away, but my hand got caught on the hem of his shirt and I blushed as I felt his bare skin under my fingers.

He watched my inner struggle as I tried to decided how to answer him, as well as my outer struggle to untangle my fingers from his shirt. This was such a ridiculous situation.

I finally managed to push my hand up to his chest and use it to put some distance between us, not like I really wanted to.

"We're just friends, right Ryuzaki?" I asked. As if we could be called just friends in this situation...

He frowned a bit, then leaned closer despite my hand.

Sliding his own hand under the hem of my shirt, he quickly closed the gap between us. As I tried to breath in and out, I realized that all I could breath in was the scent of him.

His lips brushed mine but it wasn't a kiss, he hesitated a moment to speak. "That may not be good enough." he stated, and smiled. Every movement of his lips and the vibration of his voice was taken in.

Why did I keep rejecting him? Because I'm an idiot.

Why was I letting him do as he pleases now? Because he's damn good at being seductive.

I closed my eyes, ready for him to kiss me, but he didn't get the chance.

There was a loud pounding at the door. "Yumi! Ryuzaki! Are you in there?!" a new voice shouted.

"Where would they have gone?" Raito asked.

Amane made a noise of agreement.

I probably could have said we were fine where we were, Amane would have understood and helped me out, but I decided that I would wake up soon anyway so it didn't matter.

There was a loud metallic clang from the other side of the door, and I quickly freed my other wrist. I pushed Ryuzaki off me and onto the floor, he grunted as he hit the ground then he simply lay there looking depressed.

The door opened and I ran out to hug who ever was standing closest. I had enjoyed having time to talk to Ryuzaki, but I was still glad to be free.

Unfortunately the person standing closest to the door was Matsuda, who turned a bright pink color and dropped the metal bar he had been holding.

I backed off, looking embarrassed.

I glanced over my shoulder at Ryuzaki, who still looked a bit like a crushed frog. If this wasn't a dream, that would be a serious blow to his pride.

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**author's note: **sorry this one's short, and even more sorry that L seems out of character. I did my best. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! And HA before midnight!


	76. Chapter 76

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 76**

**Dreams**

What was wrong with me?!

From the moment I looked back at him laying on the floor of the dressing room almost pathetically, I had found it impossible to think of anything else no matter how hard I tried!

We had left the store after making all the purchases we needed, and walked back to the office on Raito's request. The whole way there, I was pondering what had happened. I blatantly ignored Amane as she pressed for details, and as we left the district, I had almost made the horrible mistake of trying to hold his hand.

Luckily I had noticed what I was doing in time to not do it. But I had already brushed his hand and he turned around, expecting me to say something.

The first thing that came to my mind– that was usable in that situation– was 'I'm sorry' so that was what I said, but I realized once he asked, that I didn't have anything to be sorry for except that I kicked him in the stomach, rolled him onto the floor, and almost pulled his shirt off.

None of these were the kind of things that I would apologize for in front of Amane and Raito– especially the last one. But I chose to apologize for throwing him onto the floor.

He grunted, dismissive, and I wondered how angry he was about what had happened. I could have thought that it wasn't my fault, I could have blamed it on him and acted angry, myself. But I didn't, in fact, I was angry _with myself_.

Then we had gotten back to the office.

The first thing I had done was grab my shopping bags and run to my room, it was only late afternoon, which meant I had plenty of daylight left, but I wanted to go to bed.

Do to a strange urge I had, I found myself digging through my bags, until I found the black shirt and skirt that I had been wearing in the dressing room. I didn't want to put them on, I preferred my own clothes, but I did go through the extremely idiotic action of smelling the clothes to see if they smelled like he did.

They didn't, we had only been close enough together for scent to rub off for about twenty minutes. Frustrated and disappointed, I threw the clothes at the wall and fell back onto the floor. I lay there staring at the carpet until my neck started to hurt, then I moved to the bed.

That was when serious problems began...

It was still only about seven o'clock, but I wanted to go to sleep so I lay on the bed and closed my eyes.

_Ryuzaki moved his fingers down my neck and reached for the buttons on my shirt..._

My eyes open, in shock. I shook my head to clear the thought away and realized that I was still wearing my normal clothes. My shirt didn't even have buttons... well, my bed shirt did.

Of course I stood up and walked over to the dresser to change. I pulled the baggy white night-shirt out of the top drawer and threw it on the bed, it was uncomfortable to sleep in jeans, I wasn't going to sleep in my knew clothes and the baggy shirt was the only pajama-like garment I owned.

Once I had pulled it on, I moved back to the bed. This time however, I lay down on my side instead of my back and closed my eyes...

_He smiled seductively and ran his tongue_–

I opened my eyes quickly and thrashed around under the blankets until I was facing the opposite direction. The stupid thoughts weren't even accurate, I knew that Ryuzaki wouldn't do anything like what I was imagining him doing.

I groaned and rolled onto my back so I could stare at the ceiling, then I focused only on breathing in and out.

I stayed just like that until my eyes closed on their own and I prepared myself to reject another strange fantasy, but there was no fantasy.

Happy for relief at last, I let my eyes stay closed for what felt like hours before I felt like I needed to move.

I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock by the bed. It was just past midnight.

I decided to get a drink from the kitchen, so I got out of bed and walked toward my bedroom door, just as I was opening the door, I noticed the black clothes lying at the foot of my bed. I briefly wondered how they had gotten there when I had thrown them against the wall by the rest of the shopping bags.

I shrugged and pulled the clothes on, they were comfortable and it was probably wrong to walk around in a shirt, no matter how large it was on me.

I closed my bedroom door behind me and walked down the hall to the kitchen. The room was a bit dark, so when I crossed it to find water, the only light in sight came from the open refrigerator.

Wait...

I walked over to the door and peeked around to see the shape of Ryuzaki searching through it's contents.

As I got closer to him, he noticed me there and looked up.

"Good morning." he stated.

"Uh... good morning...?" wasn't he still mad at me?

Ryuzaki stood back up and walked to the table, where he set a sandwich in front of one of the chairs.

I filled a glass with water and sat down across from him.

"Where's Raito-kun?" I asked him casually.

Ryuzaki bit into his sandwich and chewed. "_Hmm_?" he asked as he tried to swallow.

"You probably shouldn't leave him alone, right?" I wondered, normally Ryuzaki would bring Raito with him to the kitchen.

Ryuzaki swallowed at last and looked up from his sandwich. "I left him upstairs." Ryuzaki stated. "He was asleep and I was hungry."

"Oh..." something was off here. "Well, wouldn't you normally eat something a little... sweeter?" I asked, though I wasn't really sure how to ask that.

He looked down at the sandwich in his hands as if seeing it for the first time, it had lettuce, tomatoes and chicken as far as I could tell, in other words, not the kind of thing he would eat. This finally seemed to dawn on him and he set it back down on the plate.

I drank more of my water as he pushed the plate as far as he could to the left without it falling off the table. I decided to ignore how strange he was acting and instead of watching him get up, I watched the floor.

I had been expecting him to walk back to the fridge and find something else to eat, but instead he climbed up onto the table...

I looked back up from my water and stared with interest at him, I also wondered if he had ever done this before.

"Ryuzaki are you...?" I trailed off as he grabbed my wrist and pulled.

I heard the glass of water shatter on the floor as I was forced onto the table. Ryuzaki wrapped his arms around me and crushed me into him.

I tried to ask what was wrong with him, but my voice was muted by his white shirt. His hands slid down my back and I finally had enough room to look up at his face. He smiled at me oddly and then his arms wrapped around me tighter and one of his hands pushed the back of my head so that I was forced closer to him.

He moved faster then I would have thought and before I could do anything, he was kissing me. At first I tried to fight against it, then my brain adjusted and my arms went limp. I couldn't think of anything intelligent to do at that moment, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

_Knock knock knock_

his fingers slid down my spine and through my hair...

_Knock knock_

I closed my eyes and waited for him to do what he was going to do–

I sat up in bed, screaming as though I had woken from a nightmare. My face was covered in sweat and I was blushing furiously, but then I realized that the face I had screamed into was the same face I had been screaming about.

"Ryuzaki, get out of my dreams!" I ordered him. I was obviously still asleep so it didn't matter what I told him.

He blinked a few times and I took the chance to glance at my clock. It was exactly four in the morning.

"You were dreaming about me?" Ryuzaki asked, confused.

This dream was much more realistic, Raito was attached to Ryuzaki by the chain and seemed upset about being woken up to come see me.

The last one had been a dream, I mean Ryuzaki eating a sandwich? Where had my subconscious gotten that idea?

And this had to be a dream too, but so far I preferred the first one.

"Of course I was." I said, twirling a few strands of hair around one finger, since this was a dream and therefor I could do or say anything I wanted and no one would ever know, I wanted to kiss him again...

Ryuzaki watched me curiously as I shifted position in bed and watched him do the same.

We sat across the bed from each other, and I finally moved, I closed the gap quickly and sat on his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and played with some of his hair, as he stared at me confused. This dream was more realistic...

"Yumi, are you...?" Ryuzaki started to ask, but I leaned closer to him and he lost his train of thought.

Even in a dream it was interesting to see him off balance like that. He didn't seem to have anything to say.

I leaned even closer and whispered in his ear. "Go ahead and do something." I invited him.

He finally seemed to realize something. "Y-Yumi, you're not asleep anymore." he said, shakily.

I pulled back to look at him. "Of course I am." I smiled. "Why would you be in here if I was awake?"

He gulped and I giggled at his confusion. "You were moaning quite loudly and..." he took a breath. "...we came to check on you..." he told me.

"Moaning?" I asked, I was suddenly having doubts that this was a dream.

He nodded. Raito watched us with interest.

I half considered kissing him anyway. If this was a dream too, then he had kissed me first and it was okay to kiss him now, but if this was real life and I was embarrassing myself by sitting on his lap and saying stupid things then I had to stop _now_.

I jumped backwards into the pillows on my bed and shouted at him. "Ryuzaki! Why didn't you mention that sooner?!" I shrieked.

The force of my jump had knocked him off balance, and he fell to the floor with a _thump_ I saw his head poke over the side of the bed and I threw a pillow at him.

"Get out!" I shouted, angrily.

Ryuzaki and Raito both moved to the door, common sense was probably telling them to leave me alone until morning. The door closed and I flipped onto my stomach in bed. I pulled the covers over me, pushed my head into my pillow and screamed as loud as I could.

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**author's note: **sorry if this one isn't very good, I wanted to write another useless chapter, but next one will be back on plot. This chapter is very late for yesterday because I have a short attention span! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Oh, and this time L is out of character on purpose during the dream, so that it's easy to tell the difference. I didn't italicize the dream or anything because I wanted to see how many people I could confuse. The hint was the sandwich. Ryuzaki probably doesn't know what a sandwich is in real life.


	77. Chapter 77

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 77**

**Interview**

I wasn't proud of how I had spent the night, but I pushed the memories from my mind as I got dressed. I couldn't wear my old clothes for the interview, so I put the black shirt and skirt on as I left.

I met Amane and Mogi in his car, glad that I hadn't run into Ryuzaki before I got outside.

The drive wasn't long so I didn't have too much time to stare out the window. That didn't mean that nothing was wrong with what I saw: Ryuzaki everywhere, I stopped watching the street pass by and instead tried to focus on Amane and Mogi.

"M-Misa-Misa." Mogi tried to choke out.

"Your face is way too tense, you can just call me Misa, Mochi!" Amane told him.

I continued to sit in silence.

"Misa-Misa!" Mogi addressed her, turning his head around to see us. The forced smile on his face was beyond frightening.

Amane seemed frightened at least. "What is it, Mochi?" she asked.

"This is not only an interview to land the Yotsuba commercial but also a mission to gain information." the fake smile was starting to creep me out.

"I already know that. I practiced a ton with Raito and Ryuzaki-san and that weird foreigner." Amane reassured him. "You're the one I'm worried about. Don't screw up! Your character is an energetic and cheerful manager."

I stayed silent.

"Yes!!! I'll do my best! Hell yes..." Mogi shouted as we drove into the parking lot.

We got out of the car and walked into the lobby, as soon as the two men in suits came into view, I tapped Mogi on the shoulder.

"I'm going to look around." I told him. "Ryuzaki already knows."

He nodded and I slipped around a corner before I could be seen. Ryuzaki had no idea that I was acting on my own, but if I didn't at least check the building I wouldn't be able to catch Kira first.

Amane and Mogi were greeted by the men and Amane was lead down the hall to an interview room.

Aiber was in there, and he knew that I was supposed to come, so if he saw me sneaking around I was in trouble. As the door closed behind Amane, I looked through.

What I was looking for was who was there and if there was a shinigami with them.

I wouldn't be able to tell who the shinigami was attached to, but I could at least narrow down the suspects.

Four men apart from Aiber were sitting at the table, and Rem was there, so one of those four had to be Kira. There was Ooi, Mido, Shimura, and Higuchi.

I had already decided that Mido was too smart to pull these meetings in the first place, and Shimura had a conscience that would give him trouble for killing people.

Which left Ooi and Higuchi as the two suspects.

I moved away from the door before Rem saw me, that would have been bad. Rem was devoted to Amane, so she was safe for now even facing Kira but Rem would only give Amane's death note to someone if it would help her.

Me knowing about who had it wouldn't help her, so Rem might warn whoever the owner was so that they didn't get caught.

I moved as silently as possible down the halls of the building until I found an elevator. I remember Matsuda saying something about what floor it was so I called the elevator and waited around the corner until I was sure it was empty, then I got inside.

On my floor I looked left and right before I got out, I was beginning to understand how truly paranoid I was. I crept down the hall and peeked through the door of the meeting room. No one was there so I opened the door all the way and walked over to the table in the center.

There were eight chairs, but only seven were used now and there was a paper shredder on the inside of the door. Not like I had expected much more then that. There was nothing on the desk which finally clinched that this had been a waist of time.

I took the elevator back to the first floor and walked down the hall, as I turned a corner I froze, then backed up when Rem walked out of the bathroom, well actually she walked _through_ the bathroom and out of the wall.

I waited until she walked back into the interview room then I walked around the corner and almost ran into Amane.

"Yumi!" she cried, seeming genuinely surprised.

"Oh... Amane-san..." this was bad, they had been in the same room and Amane looked like she had been deep in thought... "Sorry I ran off, there was something I needed to do." not like it had been worth it.

"Oh. Well, you can come to the interview now!" she smiled.

She was trying to fake excitement... I had to go...

"Ok, but I'm only here for moral support." I confirmed. I didn't want to have a shot at the commercial, so I would be her cousin who lived near by and wanted to help her with the interview.

Amane nodded and we walked back to the interview room.

I knew that Rem would see me, but if I was with Amane, she wouldn't do anything. After all, Rem didn't know enough about me to be sure who's side I was on.

When we walked through the door, the first thing I noticed was that Rem was standing directly behind Higuchi. He was one of the two Kira suspects I had left, so he could be Kira.

Amane was walking at the perfect angle for me to get a look at the serious look on her face. I took a wild guess that she could see Rem, which probably meant Rem was showing her who the Yotsuba Kira was.

Amane couldn't remember being Kira, but that didn't mean that she had no knowledge of it. I decided that it would be best for me to assume she was able to see and talk to Rem, and that she knew she had been Kira.

- - - - - - - - - -

we walked back into the main room of the office, Amane stretched her arms out as she complained about how exhausted she was.

Ryuzaki and Raito looked back at us as we entered.

"Ryuzaki, Yotsuba has decided to go with Misa for their advertisement." Mogi announced.

"So how was it, Misa-Misa?" Matsuda asked.

"How was what?" Amane asked him back.

"Like, what did they ask and who seemed suspicious?" Matsuda clarified.

"I can only share that kind of info with Raito and Ryuzaki, since you guys are on another team." Amane told him.

"Actually, we just agreed to work together again." Matsuda said.

"That was fast..." I mumbled. Sitting on the desk next to Ryuzaki.

"Oh? I told them my cell number and e-mail address and already three of the seven have contacted me privately." Amane stated.

"What...?" Matsuda wondered.

"So I'll just go along with their requests and investigate each one as planned, right?" Amane asked.

"Looks like that plan has been cancelled." Ryuzaki said.

"What?! After all this? Don't be ridiculous!" Amane cried, pulling Ryuzaki's hair.

"I-it's not my choice!" Ryuzaki stuttered.

Raito walked up behind Amane and pulled her off of Ryuzaki. "This puts you in danger, Misa." Raito stated. "I won't tell you not to appear in the commercial, but from now on we'll deny the part about you being interrogated by L. Mogi-san will act as your body guard and you will just be there as an actress."

Amane paused, then replied. "Okay, if that's what you want, Raito." she said. "Well, I'm tired and need to get up early tomorrow. Good night."

She knew who Kira was.

There was no other reason for her to just give up like that, chances are she had some kind of secret elaborate plan.

"Raito, want to come to bed with me?" she asked, poking her head back into the room.

"What are you talking about, Misa...?" Raito asked.

"I know, we're saving that until after you catch Kira. Don't be so shy Raito." she teased.

"Don't be so shy, Raito-kun." Ryuzaki antagonized.

"I'm not." Raito said flatly.

"Why are you answering so seriously, Raito-kun?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Hey, Ryuzaki." I said.

He looked up. "_Hmm_?"

"You still owe me something..." I reminded him.

"What do you want?" he asked simply.

I had an idea, but if I told him ahead of time, he would find a way out of it, so I smiled and answered him cryptically. "I'll think of something..."

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**author's note: **I'm late. I'll have to make up those chapters tomorrow, Saturday, or Sunday. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Secret elaborate plan...


	78. Chapter 78

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 78**

**Anti-Dream Date**

It's four am and I can't stop thinking about Ryuzaki.

Is that a bad thing?

Or is it just insane?

I was sitting at the foot of my bed, in an attempt to keep my eyes open and force my Ryuzaki fantasies away.

In an effort to distract myself from that line of thought, I tried thinking about my life.

What had I really ever done in my life that had been helpful to anyone? Was the first question that entered my mind.

I couldn't think of anything.

In fact, I always seemed to be in the way or lying because I'm afraid of one thing or another.

A good example of me being in the way was when I was sixteen and had tried to go with Wedy to install surveillance cameras in the house of a serial killer.

I had been too afraid to fight back or even run away properly when the suspect had shown up, and because of that Wedy and I had both been injured... but the worst part was that Kyu had died saving me.

I know that I was supposed to die that day, I was supposed to go to the house and be beaten to death by a psychopath. Straying from the subject of my mistake, I began to wonder if Ryuzaki would have been upset by my death.

I can never tell with him, so there was a good chance that he would have been a bit sad and then moved on with his life. But on the other hand, he could have been very upset.

That thought forced me to attempt to picture Ryuzaki crying, I couldn't do it... I had never been able to think of Ryuzaki as someone who cries when he's upset, and I'd certainly never seen him in tears before.

When he was upset he just got quiet and depressed, never teary and emotional... like me...

I was the cry baby between the two of us and we both knew that.

It dawned on me that my thoughts had turned back to Ryuzaki, I quickly changed the mental subject. A perfect example of me lying and withholding information was right now, in many ways actually.

I had missed several perfect opportunities to tell him everything about the Kira case, right down to the last detail of the murder weapon and where the culprit had been hiding it until a few months ago.

And that mistake was what had put me in this awkward position at the foot of my bed, sulking over my many past mistakes as a way of continuing to ignore the one I was making right that second.

The other lie that I was avoiding coming clean about: how I felt about Ryuzaki as a person, not as someone to turn a case in to.

I constantly said that we were friends, just friends, when really I was perfectly aware of the lie. I tried to use this time alone to decide what to do about these two issues, the Kira case and my personal feelings for the detective in charge of it.

Was that all I thought he was? The detective in charge of the case I was lying about? No that wasn't right... he was– important...

I groaned and leaned my head back, then winced as I struck the wooden frame of the bed.

He was more important then anything... in general, and to me but... what did that mean? Did that mean I should give up my dignity and say it first, or should I keep waiting for him to tell me how he feels.

The latter choice was the easiest by far and it was tempting to just keep my mouth shut so I didn't embarrass myself.

What if he didn't care about me that way, though? What if he knew that I had something important about the case that I wasn't telling him and he was trying to get that information?

That made him sound like a horrible person, but I couldn't rule out the possibility that he was using me... no I could rule that out even if it was true.

I was half willing to be just as blind as Amane was... what if this was like that though?

What if Ryuzaki and I were just like Raito and Amane? Ryuzaki taking advantage of me and how I felt so he could– shut up!

I stopped myself from comparing Ryuzaki to Raito and Amane to myself.

Changing the subject again, I tried to think about the case for a while.

Why hadn't I told Ryuzaki about it? And in correlation with my last theory, would Ryuzaki leave me alone once I had told him?

I needed to tell him. Tell him everything.

I was going to explain everything to him, starting with the case and if he didn't hate me by then, I would follow the confession up with my feelings for him. But the case would come first. That was what he always put first.

So why hadn't I already told him? Was it because the less he knew, the safer he was? Was it because if Raito had found his name, there was a chance he wouldn't kill him until he learned too much, was that because I could tell everyone about the notebook and who he was?

No. That wasn't even close... the real reason was painfully obvious and incredibly selfish: I was afraid that he would hate me for knowing the answer the whole time– my whole life even– and not telling him even to save lives.

A sudden thought struck me and my head slammed into the bed again as I straitened up.

Did Ryuzaki suspect that I had Kira's power too? That time sixteen years ago, the only reason that I hadn't died, was because the man attacking me was killed with a heart attack, conveniently before I sustained too much damage.

Then two years before the Kira case, I had left for an unknown reason– partly to prevent something like this from happening– and then while the killings were happening, I had showed up again.

This was something I had to be sure of.

I stood up and left me room. Ryuzaki's room was right next door, so all I had to do was open the door a crack to see the two of them lying as far apart on the bed as they could without breaking the chain.

Ryuzaki was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling wide awake. Raito was asleep and I knew from past experiences that he wouldn't wake for the end of the world.

"Ryuzaki...?" I asked, quietly into the dark room.

"_Hmm_?" he sat up in bed and looked at me through the crack in the door.

"Could I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, then as he began to answer I added to my request "out here?" I didn't want to risk Raito waking up if things got out of hand.

Ryuzaki looked between the side of me he could see in the doorway, and the sleeping figure of Raito before he pulled the key from the pocket of his jeans and unlocked the handcuff, chaining Raito to the bed post and then he walked over towards me.

As he passed into the light cast by the open door, I noticed that he wasn't wearing his usual white shirt, in fact he wasn't wearing a shirt at all. I blushed as he walked into the hall to stand in front of me.

I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths as I closed the door behind him. He slept with a key in his pocket but he took his shirt off? That wasn't the point.

What should I say first?

Suspicion?

The case?

My feelings?

Suspicion. I decided that was the best way to start.

"Ryuzaki, do you think I'm Kira?" I asked, rather bluntly.

He looked at me, he seemed surprised. "Are you confessing to being Kira?" he asked, almost sounding hurt.

I looked up at him from the spot I had picked on the floor. "No, I'm just asking a detective if he suspects me of a crime." I stated. "And also..." I said a bit quieter. "... I'm asking my best friend if he trusts me enough to know I'm not guilty."

I saw understanding cross his eyes and he took a step closer. "I know you're not Kira." he assured me.

I watched him come closer, but I didn't move away at all.

"How can you be sure?" I asked. Why am I trying to get arrested?! I wondered, then again being chained to Ryuzaki... I shoved the thought away hurriedly.

Because of the distraction, I barely noticed when Ryuzaki closed the gap between us almost completely, and pushed a lock of my hair out of my face.

"If you were Kira," he began, his breath blowing over my face "I'd be dead." he stated, almost matter of fact-ly.

I saw his point and relaxed. He was sure that I wasn't Kira, so did that mean he really cared about me? It didn't matter right now.

What next?

Case?

Or feelings?

Case, no real competition.

"Ryuzaki, there's something that I have to tell you... it's really important..." I took a deep breath and started leading him by the hand back into my room, where I closed the door behind us and turned to face him.

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**author's note: **cliff hanger! I've never done that before, not on purpose anyway. I hope this one wasn't too boring. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews. Oh, and marching band stuff started so I couldn't update like I wanted to. Sorry.


	79. Chapter 79

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 79**

**Attempted Confession**

As the door closed behind Ryuzaki, I noticed three agonizing problems at about the same time.

First: the lights were off and I couldn't see anything at all.

Second: would Ryuzaki even believe a story about Shinigami and notebooks that kill people? It was far fetched.

Third: what about Raito and Amane? At that moment, neither of them remembered being Kira, so even though they had killed in the past, they were innocent now. That shouldn't matter at this point but before, if I found a death note and took it from the owner, I would just destroy it and they would lose their memories. From what I had seen while Raito and Amane were innocent, I could tell that the death note was the only reason they were acting like murderers.

Without the death note, both of them would stay innocent, so there was no real reason to turn them in. Higuchi was a horrible person anyway, so I didn't mind pinning him as Kira and finding a way to clear Amane at least. This whole thing wasn't her fault after all but...

"Yumi..."

"_Hmm_?" his voice shocked me out of my thoughts.

His hand wasn't expected either. It had probably been there a while, sliding down my side, slowly as Ryuzaki groped around in the dark.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked, blindly stroking my cheek.

I realized my mistake at last: I had dragged Ryuzaki into my dark bedroom, in the middle of the night, saying that I wanted to 'talk' to him about something. Even if he knew he had the wrong idea, he was going to take advantage of the slip.

I tensed up with a small squeak as he slid his hand down my waist and onto the inside of my left thigh.

After months of building up my hit-him-if-he-touches-me reflex, it was natural for me to throw a hard punch at his face as I screamed "pervert!"

It was dark, but he heard me shout at him and raised his hand to stop my attempt at hitting him.

I should have expected that, but instead of just blocking me and moving away, he grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm up behind my back.

"Aahhei!" I shouted, as pain shot up my arm. "Ryuzaki– ouch– let go!"

"I can't see anything." he stated. "Therefore, I will hold you in this position in case you try to hit me again."

"You paranoid, jerk!" I shouted back at him. "That hurts!"

Ryuzaki slid his other arm around my waist, and because I was now standing with my back pressed up against his chest, and my right arm twisted into an unnatural position behind my back, my only option for fighting back was pulling his hair.

I reached up with my free hand in an attempt to grab some of his black hair, but I couldn't tell where my fingers were going so of course I wound up sticking my thumb in his mouth on accident. Not like he didn't stick his own thumb in his mouth anyway...

He made some kind of muffled protest as I tried to correct the mistake, but then I pulled my thumb free and went for his hair again. Of course that time, I was distracted by how warm his cheek was. I gave up on my quest for his hair, and kept my hand on his cheek.

Ryuzaki finally decided to find the light switch and began brushing his hand against the wall as he held my twisted arm.

"Wait, Ryuzaki, don't..." I tried to stop him, but a second later I heard the vase on the table by the door rock back and forth, then shatter on the floor.

The vase was right in front of the light switch so Ryuzaki hadn't been too far from his target.

"Stop groping around before you break something else." I ordered. His hand returned to his side and I tried to walk away from him. The light switch by the door would take forever to find, so I tried to walk blindly across the room towards the bed side tables and the only other lights in the room.

The light of my alarm clock was what I was following, but before I got far I noticed that Ryuzaki was still holding my arm behind my back. "Ryuzaki. Let. Go." I stated very clearly.

He didn't answer and he certainly didn't let go of my arm. I rolled my eyes and crossed the room but at the exact same moment, I stepped on the ruins of the glass vase while my knee collided with the wooden frame of the bed.

I hissed in pain as I crawled one handedly onto the bed.

Ryuzaki was forced to follow behind me due to his hold on my arm.

I managed to crawl far enough over to reach one of my two lamps and turn it on. Ryuzai blinked in the sudden light as I turned around to face him– a feet which was made difficult by his paranoia– but as the light came on and his eyes adjusted, he released my arm.

I rubbed my shoulder before pulling one of my feet closer to my face, to examine the shining splinters of glass piercing my skin.

The two of us sat in silence as I pulled shards of broken glass out of my foot, then I moved on to examining the other one.

Ryuzaki watched my face as I worked, but I took note of how little attention he was giving my– by now bloody– foot. After I was sure all the glass was out, I looked up into his eyes.

I took a deep breath and tried to think of a way to tell him everything he needed to know without turning in Raito and Amane. And of course I needed to make sure that I didn't sound like Kira.

As a way to stall for more time, I let my eyes wander over his posture. I immediately noticed that he was sitting with his legs crossed, not in his normal crouch.

Guessing at the reason, I reached my hand out and gave him a 'let me see the injury' look.

He didn't move.

I rolled my eyes and decided to kill two birds with one stone.

"Ryuzaki, I have something to tell you about Kira." I stated, finally.

He looked back up at me, and though he tried hard to hide it, I could tell that he was waiting for me to tell him everything I knew about Kira.

"Let me clean the glass out of your feet and I'll tell you." I bargained with him.

He frowned at the deal, but allowed me to start picking small shards of glass out of his feet as I explained.

I left out everything about Kyu and the fact that I owned a death note. I also said that I didn't know who the original Kiras were but that Higuchi was doing the killings now. He almost seemed relieved that one of the Yotsuba group's members really was Kira.

I decided not to explain the memory loss concept yet.

My mouth snapped shut after the story and I shifted uncomfortably under his black gaze as I waited for the yelling or at least a firm disappointment.

But all he did was stare at me.

I pulled the last fragment of the vase out of his skin and tried to wipe the blood off of him as he watched me.

I kept my eyes down or to the side so I could avoid meeting his gaze until he spoke.

I had said that the shinigami possessing Higuchi was Rem, but I hadn't said much else about shinigami in general. The explanation of the notebook and where it had come from, shinigami, had shocked him more then I had expected.

I even told him about the shinigami eyes and what they did, but I said that I wasn't sure about all the rules.

That way, I could improvise later if I needed. So basically, I had lied a lot throughout the course of my story, but I had also told him more about the notebook and Kira then I would have if I were trying to keep him from solving the case.

Finally I took a deep breath and looked up into his face.

He seemed deep in thought about what he had heard so I kept my mouth shut and waited for several minutes before he spoke again.

"Yumi..." he watched me, coldly and I could tell that he was debating whether or not to never speak to me again. "...how long have you known this?" he asked.

I wasn't sure how to answer 'my whole life' would be the truth, but it would also upset him the most, so should I lie? I could say that I figured it out a week or two ago and had told him as soon as I could... but that would be a huge lie.

"I started to understand it when I was about four years old." I admitted.

"I see." he looked back down at his lap, then he stood up next to the bed.

"Where are you going?" I asked, my voice broke as I tried to call him back with the question alone.

"We should tell the others." he said, looking back at me over his shoulder.

"W-we? You mean you're not angry with me?" I asked.

"Yumi, you could have told me sooner but you still explained in the end. Why would I be angry?"

"I... Ryuzaki, wait!" I pleaded, latching onto his arm. I felt a surge of regret over my Amane-like actions, but I just looked into his eyes. "Ryuzaki, it's–" I looked at the clock, "five in the morning." I reasoned.

"Yes, but this is important." he reminded me.

"Ryuzaki... wait until the sun comes up at least, that's one hour, I know this is important, but the task force needs to sleep... so..."

"Yumi, is there something else you want to tell me?" he asked.

My grip on his arm loosened a bit as I thought about the question. I did want to tell him how I felt but, wouldn't it be best to wait until the case was solved? He wouldn't want to deal with it now so...

"No, I just think you should wait to tell everyone until they're conscious enough to think about it." I reasoned with him.

And I didn't want him to leave...

He sat back down on the bed, silently and I moved back to sit next to him.

I let him wrap his arms around me as we sat on the bed. I relaxed my whole body, pressing into his chest as he held me.

"So you're really not angry with me?" I asked, timidly, I just had to be sure about this.

"No." he stated simply. "I'm not."

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**author's note: **I didn't mean to skip yesterday! My parents are making me go to sleep before ten because of band camp so I didn't get enough time to finish writing, but here it is finally. And... she finally told him! That part was hard to write because I wasn't sure what exactly was said, anyway I'll try to start earlier so I can update before my forced bedtime– not like I actually sleep. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	80. Chapter 80

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 80**

**Slide Show**

"Ryuzaki..." I moaned softly as I clenched my fist around the warm fabric. I opened my eyes slowly, expecting to see him laying next to me but he wasn't there.

I sat up quickly, releasing the handful of bedding that I had been holding so tightly. My head snapped around to look at the clock on the table, it was past seven.

I vaulted out of bed and ran to the dresser, sliding my bed shirt off as I changed into normal clothes and sprinted out the door. I ran to the railing in front of my room and looked down into the main room one floor below.

"Notebook?" Matsuda asked Ryuzaki, I assumed I had missed most if not all of the explanation. "Are you sure you're getting enough sleep, Ryuzaki?" he tried to joke.

Ryuzaki looked completely serious.

"You jerk!" I shouted as I ran down the stairs to join them, "why didn't you wake me up?"

"You seemed tired." he stated, simply. "So, when you fell asleep, I decided to explain things on my own."

I blushed as I realized that I must have fallen asleep in his arms. How long had he stayed with me before he put me down on the bed to go back to work? Had Raito noticed that he had been gone?

"Oh... ok then..." I mumbled, nervously.

"Back to the matter at hand." Yagami-san spoke up.

"Yeah!" Matsuda chimed in. "Do you really think that Kira kills with a magic _notebook_?"

He must have thought that Ryuzaki was joking about the notebook and whatever else he had told them, but when he looked around at the group, he could tell that no one else was willing right off the supernatural just yet.

"What makes you think that Kira kills like that, Ryuzaki?" Raito asked.

I resisted a sudden unexplainable urge to glare at him. There really was no reason to pick a fight with the memory-less Raito right now.

"Yumi told me earlier." Ryuzaki stated flatly, stirring his coffee and taking a sip.

All eyes in the room turned to me as I sighed, Ryuzaki was bound to say that sooner or later and sooner was better, but what was I supposed to do now?

No one spoke, they were all waiting for an explanation, but I really didn't have one to give. After all, how was I supposed to show them proof of a killing notebook without killing someone? I looked to Ryuzaki for help, but he wasn't looking at me, instead he seemed preoccupied with filling his coffee with sugar. I suppose he was going to get me back for my secrecy after all.

I looked from face to face, Mogi: stoic as ever, Matsuda: confused and blinking slowly every few seconds, Yagami-san and Raito: both focused on what I was going to say. But I wasn't going to say anything, I had no idea how to convince everyone that I wasn't insane.

"I don't know what to tell you..." I admitted. "The only way I could prove that the notebook exists is to catch Higuchi..."

"That's right!" Matsuda realized. "If Yumi's right, then we know how Kira kills and can arrest him now!"

Ryuzaki didn't respond, he just stared at his coffee in what I assumed to be deep thought. He could have been sulking over not solving the case himself, but it was more likely that there was something else bothering him.

"Ryuzaki, we should arrest Higuchi now. We know how he kills and we can stop him before anyone else dies." Raito stated.

Ryuzaki still didn't say anything.

"We can't just walk up to his front door, we would have to get him out in the open or he'll just hide the notebook and say he never killed anyone. Without the book we don't really have any evidence to convict him." I pointed out. Plus there was the fact that Rem could give the death note to someone else.

"You're right." Ryuzaki said, breaking away from his silent thoughts. "We should arrest him now, and we can't attempt an arrest while he's at home or he'll find a way to hide or destroy the evidence."

The task force waited for him to explain some kind of brilliant plan, I saw Amane pick up the phone on the monitors and remembered something important.

"Uh, hey, you can plan stuff to catch Higuchi and then fill me in later, there's something I need to do." I said as I stood up and ran back up the stairs to the elevator.

No one had time to ask me what was wrong before I was in the elevator and rising to Amane's floor as quickly as I could.

The elevator opened and I jumped as Amane blinked at me, her finger still raised to push the button next to the door.

I was just in time.

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the elevator before pushing the close button. Amane had been on her way down anyway, so it wasn't like I was delaying her departure.

"Amane-san, the investigation team already knows that Higuchi is Kira." I stated, a bit out of breath. There were no cameras in the elevator because only the task force members and I would be in it without Ryuzaki knowing about it.

Amane opened her mouth before closing it again, then she narrowed her eyes a bit, which was an interesting and new sight for me, because it almost looked suspicious.

"Raito already knows?" she asked, she couldn't care less about what the task force as a whole knew as long as Raito knew what was happening.

"Yes, he knows, so anything you do to prove it to him will just be a waste of time." I didn't try to act polite, she probably didn't remember being Kira, but she obviously knew about the notebook and how involved she had been in the case.

She opened her mouth to say something but decided not to, the elevator opened at a random floor and I got out, leaving her alone. I saw her take out a cell phone as the doors closed.

The floor I had gotten out on didn't have any rooms on it that were in use, so I walked to the first door to my right and opened it, checking inside the dark bedroom before closing to door and walking across the hall to the next door.

I continued looking through dark rooms for several minutes, not really paying attention to the rooms themselves.

As I reached a dead end where the doors stopped, I turned around, but instead of opening all the doors again, to check what I had missed, I walked to the elevator to go back to Ryuzaki.

I wonder if there's anything symbolic about that.

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**author's note: **I'm back! This chapter was short, but it was kind of a hard spot for me to get through, it took a few days to decide what I wanted to put into it, now that band camp is over I can start updating every day again! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Sorry it took so long for me to get back.


	81. Chapter 81

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 81**

**Memorial**

Wedy and I were waiting for our chance to start following Higuchi, in the back of a large delivery truck.

We were planning to follow him to the Sakura Tv station from the Yoshida productions building, as soon as we got the signal from Ryuzaki and Raito who were still back at the headquarters.

I felt a bit useless while I waited, Wedy was in the middle of doing something technologically clever with my motorcycle. Something about the clutch sticking when I shifted into the higher gears.

"Wedy?" I asked, as a way to kill time. I really had nothing to say.

"Hmm?" she responded as she cleaned out something small and black.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" I asked, randomly, it had been the first thing to cross my mind.

"Yeah." Wedy said, not curious in the least.

"Was he nice?" I asked.

"I've had more then one." she stated.

"Really? Why?"

"I kept getting in fights with them."

"So you left them? How many were there?"

"I can't remember."

"Wow... why didn't you stay with your first boyfriend?"

"He got caught, twenty years in prison. I wasn't going to wait."

"You weren't?" I asked. "Well why did you date him if you weren't going to stay with him after prison." the reason for his incarceration wasn't much of a concern for me.

"I don't know... I guess I just didn't want to be with him anymore... it got old."

"Did you ever kiss him?" I asked, almost whispering.

"Yeah."

"But you still broke up?" I looked up at her, just as she finished working on my clutch. "Isn't kissing a big step that only really, really close people take?"

"Well... wait, why are you asking me this?" she changed the subject, finally catching on.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

Wedy sighed and sat down next to me, leaning against the wall of the truck. "If you want advice, then ask for it." she ordered.

"Advice..." I repeated. "About men...?"

"Yes."

"Ok... what does it mean when a man touches a girl's butt?" I asked.

"Uh... well, it could mean anything... I'd guess that it means he thinks she's hot."

My hand instinctively rose to feel the temperature of my forehead, I wasn't sure what temperature had to do with perverted advances– for lack of a better phrase– but if Wedy thought that was it...

Wedy laughed at my reaction and opened her mouth to clarify, but at that moment my cell phone rang. I opened the phone to hear Ryuzaki on the other line.

"Higuchi is leaving Yoshida productions, now... please tail him until he reaches Sakura Tv." he requested.

"Right, were on our way out." I assured him.

Wedy stood up, she already knew that he was the only one who had my cell phone number, and there was really only one thing he would call me about at that moment.

The back gate of the truck dropped slowly as I pulled on my helmet, pushing all my hair up into it so the wind wouldn't pull it around while I was trying to steer.

Then Wedy's black motorcycle rumbled to life and left the truck, followed by my purple and silver one. The clutch didn't stick anymore and I made a mental note to thank Wedy for her help.

Higuchi's car sped down the dark road at twice the legal limit and I wished that I could have know the story behind his haste. But without satisfying my curiosity, I followed Wedy in tailing him through the traffic.

He had the death note in the car with him, the aura was obvious because of the criminal deaths, and I was fairly certain the Rem was in the back seat, but the light wasn't so good and it was possible that I was just seeing things.

Not likely, though.

I was wearing a headset under my helmet so that I could continue talking to Ryuzaki while I was chasing Higuchi, but talking and steering at the same time was harder then it should have been.

I still wasn't the best at riding the motorcycle, but now I could control speed, direction... and I could stop without the aid of hotel walls.

"Can you see Higuchi's car?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Yes, Ryuzaki." I answered.

"Does he have the notebook?"

"Yes, Ryuzaki."

"Am I irritating you?" he asked, jokingly.

"No, of course not, Ryuzaki. I'm just trying to focus on– _shit!_" I swerved out of the way of a motorcycle cop, who pulled up to Higuchi's car, lights flashing.

"We, have a problem." Ryuzaki pointed out, uselessly.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." I grunted as I slowed down, but Higuchi had stopped, so I had no choice but to pass him.

I glanced at him as I passed and instantly spoke up again.

"Ryuzaki! He has the eyes!" I shouted over the noise of traffic.

"Are you sure?" Ryuzaki didn't sound at all surprised.

"Yes, I know what I saw!" I shouted back, "I'm going ahead to the Tv station, with Wedy, that traffic cop is toast." I added.

Wedy and I sped back up as the death note started acting up behind us.

It didn't take long for us to meet up with Yagami-san at the Tv station. The whole building had been evacuated for the broadcast and the main entrance was unlocked.

I didn't know where I was going, so I followed Wedy to the studio that the Kira program was being shown in, Yagami-san had overturned a wooden table and the three of us ducked down behind it.

I pulled out my gun and checked how many bullets I had left, before hanging up on Ryuzaki, driving was one thing but ambushing a serial killer was something else, and it was a something that I wouldn't be able to do properly if Ryuzaki was talking to me while I aimed my gun.

"Here, Mr. Yagami, you should take this." Wedy offered, handing Yagami-san a loaded hand-gun.

"I can't have one of those." Yagami-san objected, pushing the gun back towards Wedy. "Guns are illegal in Japan, the two of you shouldn't be carrying them either."

"Says something about the situation, doesn't it?" I muttered to myself as I peeked up over the table at the door.

I heard footsteps in the hallway just before a man came running in, panting pathetically.

Higuchi.

It took him a second to realize that no one was there and the broadcast was over, but that only gave Yagami-san, Wedy and I a chance to jump out at him.

"Higuchi, you're under arrest!" Wedy, called, the two of us aimed our guns.

Mogi and Aiber ran in the door behind Higuchi, surrounding him, completely.

Higuchi was having trouble with the tinted helmets, which would have made the arrest easier, if he hadn't reached into his bag.

"Wait, this is all a misunderstanding, I'm here for an appointment with Mr. Demegawa... I'm from the Yotsuba group, let me get you my card... I watched carefully as Higuchi slid his hand into his bag, he couldn't do anything with the death note unless he learned everyone's names at once, and I would still be ok even then.

I waited for the death note to shift but it didn't, I looked back up at Higuchi, a bit shocked about the gun he pulled from the bag, he aimed at me, either because I wasn't moving or because I was obviously the least competent of the two armed women in the room.

I saw it coming but all I could do was flinch to the right, suddenly something collided with my left side and I was knocked out of the way.

I heard a strangled grunt from Yagami-san as the bullet grazed his shoulder.

"Chief!!" Mogi shouted.

Higuchi turned and ran from the room as a few drops of Yagami-sans blood splashed onto my face.

I shivered, but before I could start panicking over the red drops, I was shaken out of my daze by Wedy, firing her gun at Higuchi's retreating form.

She shot about eight times before the trigger began clicking uselessly under her fingers.

"Wedy!" I shouted, as I slid my gun across the floor, she was closer to the door and her hands weren't shaking like mine.

She scooped the gun up off the ground as she ran out into the hallway and swore loudly as Higuchi escaped around a corner.

I called Ryuzaki back as Wedy ran out of the room.

I pulled off my helmet as Ryuzaki answered.

"Ryuzaki, Higuchi got away, he pulled out a gun and shot at Yagami-san!" I cried. Higuchi wasn't like the first Kira, he was the definition of a stupid person doing stupid things in a tight situation.

"He pulled a gun? Are you hurt?" Ryuzaki asked, there was an unusual amount of background noise for an office building.

"Me? Yagami-san's the one who took a bullet!" I reminded him.

"Ryuzaki, I'm fine." Yagami-san assured everyone else as well. "I'm sorry, we should be able to catch him if we hurry."

I tried to help Yagami-san up, but I got more blood on my hands and I must have squealed into the mouth piece of my headset because Ryuzaki instructed my to stay with Aiber instead of following Higuchi on my motorcycle.

Mogi finally pulled him to his feet and the four of us ran back to the cars parked in front of the station.

I climbed into the back seat of Aiber and Mogi's car, leaving my helmet in the building and my motorcycle in the parking lot.

The engine started and I quickly reflected on how my life had been saved. Again... why couldn't I do anything myself?

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**author's note: **my bad, I needed to get some sleep last night and didn't get a chance to update, also I cut this chapter earlier then I meant to but that was because it's getting late. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	82. Chapter 82

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 82**

**Falling**

The engine roared to life as Mogi sped down the road after Higuchi and Wedy.

Yagami-san followed after us and I shivered in the back seat while the car turned onto a freeway.

"Here." Aiber offered me a white handkerchief, probably from the inside pocket of his white, pinstriped suit.

"Thanks..." I took the fabric with a shaking hand and tried to clean some of the blood off of my face. Aiber sat forward again and watched the road.

I was alone in the back seat because both Aiber and Mogi had climbed into the front, but that didn't bother me, I was starting to cry a bit anyway.

I handed to red stained cloth back to Aiber, who casually tossed it out the window and into the street.

We continued down the road for a while, I was beginning to wonder if the only thing that could stop Higuchi was an empty gas tank, when a bright light seemed to cause Higuchi's car to swerve to a stop before he turned back around and tried to drive towards us.

I didn't have time to find out what the light was because Mogi swerved the car as a loud gun shot caused him to slam down on the breaks. I jerked forward in my seat as Higuchi's car almost collided with a wall, he skidded to a stop and I saw that one of his tires was blown out.

I threw my seat belt off and ignored Aiber and Mogi's protests as I got out of the car without my helmet, which I had left at the tv station anyway.

A strong wind pulled at my hair and clothes as a helicopter landed a few yards away. I noticed for the first time, that the bright light that had stopped Higuchi's car was a large group of police cars all of which had tinted windows.

Rem had climbed out of the car, but I was obviously the only one who could see her.

I saw Wedy pointing my gun at the driver's side window of Higuchi's car. The window was open and Higuchi was doing something stupid that I couldn't make out from my current distance.

I ran towards the helicopter on a whim and before I got too close, I could tell that Ryuzaki had been the one driving. That had been unexpected, and I made a mental note to ask Ryuzaki when he had learned to pilot a helicopter.

I stopped dead as another loud shot rang out, I saw Higuchi flinch noticeably and I wondered if he had been hit. The helicopter was the source of the shooting, so I started running again, not caring that Higuchi saw me.

I climbed up and knocked on Ryuzaki's window, the door was opened and I climbed into the cockpit. I looked around, past Ryuzaki who was watching me, I saw Raito in the seat closest to Higuchi's car, and Watari in the back. He was wearing what I would have thought was sniping gear and carrying a large gun.

"Where's Amane?" I asked, it wasn't a very good question, but I felt like knowing.

"She's back at headquarters." Ryuzaki answered.

"Wait, you left her there alone? Isn't that kind of dangerous?" I asked.

"I took steps to insure that she wouldn't cause problems." Ryuzaki stated calmly.

"Like what? Did you leave the cameras on or something?" I asked.

"Not exactly."

I frowned, what else could he have done?

"Yagami-san, have you found the notebook in Higuchi's car?" Ryuzaki asked, brushing me off as usual.

I looked up at the immobile car and saw Yagami-san digging around inside as Higuchi sat on the ground with his hands behind his head, surrounded by police.

I couldn't hear Yagami-san's reply because I didn't have my headset on, but a second later, he pulled out of the car and straitened up, only to cry out in fear and stumble backwards onto the grounds.

"He found it." I grunted as Yagami-san stared up in horror at Rem.

Ryuzaki glanced at me for a second, before ordering Yagami-san to calm down and bring him the notebook. Yagami-san got up, panting and ran for the helicopter, notebook in hand.

He passed it to Ryuzaki, through the window then backed as far away from the shinigami as possible without leaving the scene.

That goes to show, that no matter how prepared you think you are for something like this, it's still possible to freak out when it actually happens.

Ryuzaki didn't scream, he wasn't the screaming type, but it was obvious that he was surprised. Even though I had told him everything about shinigami, right down to what Rem looked like.

I felt sorry for him, and reached out to put my hand on his shoulder, when I noticed Raito reaching towards him as well.

"Let me see, too, Ryuzaki." Raito said as he grabbed the notebook from Ryuzaki's hands.

"No! Don't!" I shrieked as Raito sat back down in his chair.

I lunged forward, forgetting that Ryuzaki was right in front of me and knocking the unsuspecting man to the ground as Raito started screaming in his seat.

Ryuzaki wrapped one arm around my waist in an attempt to steady himself, but that only succeeded in pulling me down on top of him.

The shinigami was forgotten as Ryuzaki and I tried to wrestle for the right to get up first. The action only tangled us more and Raito had already stopped screaming, plus with me distracting Ryuzaki Raito didn't have to wait for an opening, before he started playing with something in his hands.

I tried to push away from Ryuzaki, but he twisted his legs around mine and I was forced to shove my knee into his thigh before he loosened his hold. By that time, Raito had already written Higuchi's name, but it wasn't in the death note that he had in his hands. He had probably taken a piece of the other notebook and hidden it on him somewhere so that I couldn't sense it while the third Kira used his notebook.

I tried to get up, but Ryuzaki grabbed a fistful of my hair and rolled over on top of me as my eyes stung from the pain.

When he had me on my back, he grabbed my left wrist with his free hand and pinned it to the floor.

If I didn't get to Raito and take the notebook away before Higuchi died, then Raito would become the owner.

I tried to use my free hand to push Ryuzaki away, but he wouldn't move. There was also a good chance that he didn't know what was going on, and was only fighting back because he didn't want to lose. He probably assumed that I wanted to fight because I was so desperate to get up.

"Ryuzaki, get off! Higuchi's going to die!" I shouted.

Ryuzaki got off immediately.

I froze as his inner thigh brushed my cheek while he crawled over me to reach the front window and watch Higuchi.

I lay staring at the ceiling in a daze for a few seconds before Higuchi's aura snapped me back into reality and I rolled over onto my stomach so I could push myself off the ground and snatch the death note out of Raito's hands.

But I was too late.

The aura had disappeared just before I could grab it, which made Raito the owner.

Raito's eyes widened in fake innocence as I glared at him, then he smirked at his victory. I turned to Ryuzaki, who had reached out to take the death note from me.

I handed it over and he flipped through the pages, probably looking for Higuchi's name, but he didn't find it.

I felt my stomach flip over as I saw the look in his eyes, it was worse then depression...

... he looked hopelessly sad...

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**author's note: **this chapter and the last chapter were supposed to be one chapter, but I got stuck so I decided to cut it off, but from now on there will no more cutting it off early because I already have it planned out to the last detail! Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	83. Chapter 83

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 83**

**Halloween**

I was staring at my bedroom ceiling again... trying to figure out what I should do.

11:59 pm October 30th.

I guess that meant that it was still earlier that day.

_Raito rubbed at his left wrist, the chain was on the desk next to the computer and I could tell that Raito hadn't thought of bandaging his hand early on, the skin where the chain had been had been rubbed raw._

_Ryuzaki was already working again, back to the case without a moment's thought about the murderer that he was letting go again._

"_I guess this means that we'll be saying goodbye to Misa-Misa." Matsuda pouted as he, Raito Aizawa and Mogi walked out to see her off._

_The group continued to discuss the subject of Raito and Amane's new freedom as the large metal doors closed behind them, leaving Ryuzaki, Rem and I alone in the main room._

_Ryuzaki sat at his computer typing, researching and asking Rem or I the occasional question. I wasn't sure what to do, it would be easy to turn in Yagami-kun as Kira, but that would mean Amane would be in danger as well._

_And Ryuzaki couldn't find evidence on them himself, because there were two fake rules in the notebook. One rule said that if the notebook was destroyed, then everyone who had touched it until then would die. I knew that was fake because I had destroyed several notebooks and I was still alive. _

_The second one was the real problem though, it stated that anyone who wrote a name in the notebook had to write another name withing 13 days or they would die. That rule would make it impossible for Amane and Raito to be alive if they had been Kira._

_Or that's what Ryuzaki was supposed to accept, but if I told him about the rule, then Rem might be a problem..._

"_Yumi..."_

"_Hmm?" _

"_Is it possible to kill with just a piece of the paper?" Ryuzaki asked, flipping through the notebook's_ _pages again to find a piece torn out._

"_Yes." I answered, blankly._

_Before he had another chance to speak, I left the room through the main door just in time to see Aizawa, Mogi and a teary Matsuda coming back into the main room._

_I passed them to walk down the hall behind the heavy metal doors and towards the elevator at the other end._

_The elevator closed and I watched the lights flash as it dropped to the ground floor then stopped for a second and came back up to open again as I waited for my chance to get in._

_But I forgot about the need to leave the building as Yagami-kun got out in front of me, smirking because he knew that the cameras in the hall didn't record. He openly chuckled at my glare as he walked past me towards the main room._

_I stood staring at the elevator as the doors closed in front of me again, then I heard his footsteps stop right behind me. He didn't turn to face me, and I didn't look at him but he knew I was listening._

"_If you say anything, he'll die." Raito warned me, before walking through the metal doors to the main room._

12:18 am October 31st.

That threat had been a gamble to say the least, a gamble based on whether I wanted to keep Ryuzaki alive, or get Kira arrested. But at the same time, it was obvious that he didn't have the power to kill Ryuzaki or keep him alive to get any type of cooperation from me.

That was because the only way for him to kill Ryuzaki was to have a shinigami do it, or get his name from Amane, or make the eye deal himself, but that probably wouldn't happen.

The easiest way for him to protect himself and put pressure on me, was to keep Ryuzaki alive, but threaten to kill him if I turned him in.

But, because Rem was his best bet at the moment, he wouldn't be able to use that method because Rem would kill Ryuzaki as soon as he got too close to Amane.

So at the moment, Raito was only buying time by stopping me from telling Ryuzaki about the fake rules, because eventually he would figure it out on his own.

I finally managed to close my eyes for what felt like a second, but I was woken again by my alarm clock warning me that it was four in the morning.

I turned it off and got out of bed, I had been sleeping in my clothes, so I didn't have to change before I left my room for the kitchen, I grabbed the two plastic shopping bags that I had hidden from Ryuzaki, then I got in the elevator and took it to the floor just above Amane's.

This was a hunch I had been following, because I didn't actually know where his room was, but I knew that he preferred to be on the top floor.

It actually didn't take long to find his room, it was the farthest from the elevator and the only room that wasn't locked.

Because Raito and Amane had been freed the day before, Ryuzaki had let Raito have the room next to mine and he had gone back to the room that he had planned to use originally.

I opened the door enough to tell that he was actually asleep, then I slipped inside and began to doctor the lock, I removed several key components from the handle and put them into a plastic zip-lock bag so that I could put them back later.

I put the bag of lock parts and the two plastic shopping bags full of supplies on the table right inside the door, then I closed the door and smiled as the lock clicked into place. I tried the handle a few times before looking back at the sleeping Ryuzaki.

I crept over to the bed, being very careful so as not to wake him. Then I actually saw him while he was asleep.

I was shocked at how peaceful he looked in his sleep, and how... innocent...? I wasn't sure what to call it actually, but the closest thing I could come up with was 'perfect' completely and utterly perfect.

Before I really registered the movement, I was running my fingers through his hair and watching him shift and groan in his sleep. He unconsciously snuggled his head into my hand like a cat and I almost laughed at the sight.

I wasn't thinking clearly, obviously, because I climbed into bed next to him and watched him smile in his sleep. I wasn't that far away from him, in fact if I were a few centimeters closer, I would have been kissing him, so I shouldn't have been surprised when his hand brushed against my stomach.

What surprised me more was a short, sleepy moan that was probably intended to be a word.

I couldn't remember Ryuzaki ever talking in his sleep which must have meant that he was having an unusual dream. I twisted a lock of his hair around my fingers while I wondered what he was dreaming about that made him so happy.

Ryuzaki moaned again and the arm that had already brushed my stomach, wrapped around my waist. I began to seriously doubt the fact that he was asleep.

"Yu..m..hmm..." he moaned as he snuggled his head into my neck.

I started to worry about my pounding heart waking him as I stared blankly into space. My fingers that had been playing with his hair, stopped moving. We stayed in that same position for several minutes, Ryuzaki moaning occasionally.

Finally I heard the muffled "mmm... hhmm... mmhhm?" that signified waking, I didn't move an inch as he opened his eyes against my neck, I shivered as his eye lashes tickled my skin.

He blinked a few times before pulling away to look at me.

"How did you get dressed so quickly?" he asked, playing with my shirt.

I frowned a bit, not knowing what he meant but then all the implications of the sentence hit me at once and I blushed violently.

"I've... uh... been dressed, Ryuzaki..." I informed him.

"Hmm." he looked at me curiously for a few seconds and I blushed even more knowing that he was taking in every detail of my reaction. "What time is it?" he asked.

"Uh... a little past five I guess..." I answered, shakily.

He rolled over and got out of bed. "Is that why you came in here?" he asked, "to wake me up?"

"No, that's not quite it..." I remembered at the last second that he slept without a shirt on, but it was too late, I had lost the ability to think strait.

I watched him pull a white shirt over his head and walk towards the door only to look back at me obviously wondering why I hadn't moved from the bed. He mentally shrugged it off and reached out to open the door.

_Click_

I got out of bed and walked over to stand behind him.

_Click click click_

He gave up on turning the handle and tried to turn the lock, it wouldn't move.

Ryuzaki stared at the door as if expecting an apology for not being able to leave the room. Then he turned back to me.

"We appear to be locked in." he stated.

"I'm aware of that." I informed him.

"And you didn't try to fix it?" he asked. I assumed that he was thinking about the dressing room incident and how frantic I had been.

"No, I broke it on purpose." I told him, starting to smile just a bit at my accomplishment.

"And why did you do that?" he asked.

"It's your day off." I stated, as firmly as possible while holding back my laughter at the plan.

Ryuzaki blinked, surprise showing on his face for just a moment before he regained his composure.

"Day off?" he asked, calmly.

"Yes. I've missed your last two birthdays, so now that I'm back I'm going to make you at least acknowledge that you're turning twenty five today." I insisted. "So, in order to do that, I'm making you take a break from the Kira case!"

"So you locked us in my bedroom?" he confirmed.

"Yes! And you're not going to do any work until..." I checked the bedside clock "five twenty three tonight."

"Is that so?" he challenged, stepping close enough to breath into my face.

"Yes, it is. You're not allowed to leave this room, use your laptop– and give me your cell phone..." I ordered, shoving my hand into his pocket and closing my fingers around the phone.

I started to pull back out, but he grabbed my wrist and pushed my hand back down.

"Ryuzaki, give me the phone!" I ordered.

He smiled slightly at my plain annoyance, then stepped a little closer. I moved away a bit so he didn't step on my toes, but the backs of my legs brushed against the wooden bedframe.

"Ryuzaki!" I complained as I grabbed his other wrist with my free hand, hoping that it would give me an edge, but he managed to twist his hand around in my grip and lace his fingers neatly through mine.

His smile widened and became slightly perverted. He slid our hands in between our chests and used one finger to push my hair behind my left ear.

"Let go." he demanded, tonelessly, tightening his grip on the hand holding his phone so I knew that was what he wanted me to let go of.

"You first." I shot back, glaring at him.

Our eyes locked in a silent staring contest for what felt like several minutes. He was obviously deciding what to do about his new– but temporary– captivity as he stared.

Finally he broke eye contact and released the hand that I still had in his pocket, sliding his fingers up my arm, past my shoulder and under my hair, to rest on the back of my neck.

I pulled the phone out of his pocket and turned it off with my one free hand while Ryuzaki began using his free hand to stroke the sensitive skin between my neck and upper back.

I shivered and moved instinctively away from the touch, pressing ever harder into his chest as he watched me.

"We can't stay in here all day." his voice brought me back to reality. "I don't have any food in this room."

"I know that..." I replied, ducking out of his arms and moving behind him to the table by the door, I placed his confiscated phone on it before picking up one plastic bag in each hand and displaying them proudly. "That's why I brought these!" I smiled openly at him.

"What about Watari and the task force?" he asked, just looking for an excuse.

"Ryuzaki, the killings have stopped... and until they start again, the investigation has nothing to go on... there's no point in working yourself to death over nothing. You're taking a day off." I stated.

Ryuzaki sighed and slid his hands into his pockets, thinking...

I moved over to sit on the edge of his bed while I waited.

"You owe me a favor." I reminded him, the more time he wasted complaining the less we had to celebrate.

He opened his mouth to protest but I cut him off.

"I did that stupid interview thing for you, and you said that in return you would give me anything I wanted."

He opened his mouth again.

"Be quiet." I ordered. "This is what I want: for you to take the day off for your birthday. So get comfortable because you're not going anywhere."

Ryuzaki sighed, but nodded reluctantly.

I snapped back to my feet, squealing with joy at his reply before grabbing his arm and pulling him over to the bed. I pushed him down and he crawled over to lay with his back on the pillows.

I didn't wait for permission before moving over to lay my head on his shoulder, our bodies parallel. He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and we stared at the ceiling in silence before I remembered something.

"Hey, Ryuzaki... what were you dreaming about earlier?" I asked.

He glanced at me before answering.

"You..." he stated slowly, his eyes slid out of focus as he remembered his dream, he looked dazed but had a pleasant smile on his face.

"Reall–" I was cut off.

"Chained to my bed–"

"What the _hell_?!" I shrieked as I grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed his head, face down, into the pillows.

He squirmed a bit before lying still, waiting for me to calm down.

"You sick _pervert_!" I continued to shout.

I pulled him out of the pillows and slammed his face back down, yanking rather painfully on his hair.

"I'm... _s-sorry_...!" he insisted as I pulled him up and pushed him back down repeatedly.

"No you're not! You PERVERT!!" I shouted as I pushed his head down a final time before ripping my hand out of his hair and rolling over in bed to face away from him, my arms crossed over my chest.

I heard him shifting behind me, probably picking himself up and inspecting the damage I had caused.

I sighed as the anger faded away, leaving me regretting my aggression_. _I blinked a few times, trying to stay angry before I gave up and pouted to myself.

"Ryuzaki...?" I asked quietly, now turning around.

"...yes...?" he responded hesitantly.

"I'm sorry... I over reacted...it wasn't your fault that you were having such an... inappropriate_... _dream..." inappropriate? What was I saying?

"I enjoyed it..." he admitted.

I sighed again, realizing that I couldn't bring myself to beconvincingly angry. I rolled back over but went too far, I wound up lying on my back on top of Ryuzaki. But I didn't care.

"Of course you did." I laughed at him.

He gave a short low laugh at my acceptance before he began to stroke my hair, gently.

"By the way," I remembered, "happy birthday." I smiled.

"Thank you... Yumi."

I looked back at him and saw him struggling for words.

"Ryuzaki...?" I started, worried about him.

"Answer something for me..." he said, slowly.

"A-anything." I agreed.

"Two years ago,why did you leave?" he asked.

"I..." I knew the answer, obviously, but I couldn't say it... I couldn't be first. "I wanted to find death notes that got dropped here. I guess I didn't do a very good job..." I looked away from him.

"It had nothing to do with me?" Ryuzaki confirmed, quietly.

"With you?" I asked, he seemed like he was genuinely hoping for a no. I gave it to him. "...no, it didn't have anything to do with you._"_

He sighed, probably in relief but he could have just been tired.

"Now answer me something." I requested.

"Anything." he copied.

"Why didn't you tell me about B?" I asked.

Ryuzaki didn't answer for at least five minutes, I wasn't sure if he was stalling or thinking.

"You do understand," he said at last "that you weren't supposed to come with me when I left Wammy's house, don't you?" he stroked my cheek with his fingertips.

"Yes, of course I know..."

"And you're aware of the current purpose of the house?" he confirmed.

"To raise successors for you? What does that have to do with..."

"B was, essentially, my first successor. Only more so..."

"More then a successor?"

"Yes, B was intended to be my replacement if something were to happen to me. My exact replacement, so no one would notice the difference."

"No one would notice? You and B never spoke or anything, right? We left the day he came, so how was he supposed to know how you act and–"something dawned on me. "Wait, by no one... you mean me, don't you...?"

I heard him shift, uncomfortably, but he continued to run his fingers over my face.

"How could you expect that to work?" I asked, feeling a little insulted.

"I didn't, but I suppose... that's why I suggested it..."

"You suggested it because it wouldn't work? What was the point of that?" I asked.

"Watari didn't want you to come at first, he said that if something happened and B had to replace me, you could leave and B's actions wouldn't match mine exactly because you wouldn't be helping him as well. So, because I didn't want to leave you behind, I suggested that if I died, Watari wouldn't tell you about the switch." Ryuzaki explained.

"Oh... Ryuzaki, if you had asked me to... I would have helped B if you... wanted me to help him..." I muttered.

"I suppose, I wanted you to know the difference between B and I. I wanted you to know that I was gone and remember me..." Ryuzaki admitted.

"I won't forget you, Ryuzaki, you're too important." I stared at the ceiling as I spoke, studying the details of the fan.

"Yumi..." he said after a few more seconds. "Would you have known the difference if B had taken my place?"

"Ryuzaki... you and B look a lot alike... I almost thought that you were the murderer when I first saw him at the fourth scene. It was hard to look at because he looked so much like you but..." I turned my upper body, propping myself up on my elbows so I could stare into his eyes as I answered. "He's not my L." I stated firmly.

My brain caught up with my mouth and I blushed at what I had said, glancing to the side briefly before I noticed something.

I jumped backwards off of him, and ,rolling on my back, kicking my legs in the air, I squealed, "Ryuzaki! You're blushing!!" I sat up quickly and pointed a finger at him, accusingly, smiling wildly.

It was only the faintest trace of pink, but it was proof that Ryuzaki got embarrassed just like me. Only not as often...

"Did you just call me your...?" I saw the question and chose that moment to crawl back onto him, still vibrating with joy at the memory of his face. The stoic L had blushed and the image was forever etched into my brain, I would never forget his face.

I moved as close to his face as I could and wrapped my arms around his neck, laying on my stomach over him and snuggling my face into his hair. I hummed with pleasure as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in as tightly as possible.

I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to whisper my feelings for him into his ear as I drifted off to sleep.

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**author's note: **I'm not lazy, I swear! I had color guard practice until 9:00 at night for the last three days so I used the little time I had between school and practice to write this chapter. It took three days because I didn't have the time to do it in one, so hopefully it's long enough to make up for the delay in posting. I have homework to do now so, thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	84. Chapter 84

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 84**

**The Last Move**

Again I woke expecting to find Ryuzaki, but he wasn't there.

I sighed into the pillow, wondering if the two hours I had spent with him before I fell asleep had been a dream and I was just now waking up. I opened my eyes and looked towards the left bed side table, expecting to find my alarm clock but all that was on the table was a lamp.

I turned over and glanced at the right side of the bed, then watched the glowing red letters of the alarm clock change, I stared at it for several minutes while I woke up, slowly coming to terms with the fact that Ryuzaki kept his alarm clock on the right side of the bed and I kept mine on the left which meant that I was in his room.

Once I had figured out that much, I started to wonder where he was. Suddenly a horrible thought hit me as I rolled out of bed and vaulted the distance between the bed and the table by the door.

I dug through my things until I found the bag of door parts, and confirmed that he couldn't have put the lock back together while I was asleep.

I put the bag back on the table and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.

Ryuzaki had to be here somewhere, and to be honest, I had already guessed where 'somewhere' was.

I tapped my fingernails against the bedside table while I waited to for him to come back.

It didn't take long, and a moment later the only other door in the room opened as Ryuzaki walked back over to the bed and crouched beside me.

His hair was still wet, confirming my theory that he had taken a shower while I had slept. He stared at me, curiously as I checked the clock– over seven hours to go– and stared at the ceiling.

I didn't make eye contact with him, but he seemed to be both aware of, and enjoying, the fact that his watching was starting to bother me.

I turned to him after a while, finally taking in his posture.

His head was tipped to the side with one thumb resting on his bottom lip, over all he looked innocent and childish, but I wasn't fooled.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked, and half expecting a perverted answer, I twisted my hands into the bed sheets.

"You didn't have anything planned?" Ryuzaki asked. He seemed amused by my failure to think ahead.

"No, I didn't." I stated, deciding not to give a sarcastic answer.

"I have a bed..." he started and I almost shouted at him, before I realized he was still talking. "A couch, tables, computer, tv..."

I blinked at his list before deciding on something to do.

"We could watch a movie." I suggested.

"I don't have any movies." he told me.

"I guessed, but I brought some with me." I smiled, getting up and crossing to the table by the door. I dug through one of the two plastic bags until I found a small group of movies.

I was not proud of my collection, which only included six movies, none of which were very good.

I had three movies that I had bought on the recommendation of whoever was watching the counter that night, two that I bought because the cover looked interesting and one I had found on the ground on my way back to my old apartment.

Five of the movies were romance and the one I had found was unknown, because I had fallen asleep after five minutes of watching men in white coats do experiments on a rather frightened looking captive. I had passed out by the end of the opening credits and missed the whole thing.

Of course, I never would have bought the other five movies if I had known what they were about, I was never one for sappy boring romances, but I couldn't read the Japanese on the back of the cases.

Ryuzaki was already behind me, pulling the first movie off the pile and examining it for a second, I had a strong hunch that he didn't care what movie we watched, but he opened the case and walked across the room to put the DVD into the player.

I followed him over and we sat on the couch as the screen changed.

A familiar opening scene confirmed that he had picked the unknown movie.

Instead of crouching on the couch like Ryuzaki, I shifted to sit on my knees and lean my head on his shoulder while I tried to focus on the poorly made movie.

The poor captive shook, moaned and collapsed, three of the white coated scientists moved over to the body, pronounced him dead and lifted the failed experiment into a metal chute. The body slid down through the closed metal pipe and landed on top of a pile of at least thirty dead bodies.

I knew that Ryuzaki could, and had, read the back of the case, so why had he picked something like this? Or maybe it was a murder case movie, that might interest him, but it was obviously old and quite poorly made...

I glanced up at Ryuzaki, he was watching the screen, but there was a slight hint of boredom in his expression.

The scene changed and I watched two people in their mid to early twenties walking around a large brightly lit kitchen, the man was probably an employee of a big corporation and the woman was most likely his wife, or maybe his girlfriend.

The man, who was wearing a rather expensive suit, picked up a black briefcase and walked out the back door of the house.

The woman followed him, and he kissed her on the cheek quickly before getting into his clean, shiny car and driving away.

I frowned a bit, I hadn't been paying attention to the dialogue, but from the actions of the two, I would have guessed that this was another romance movie, the only question was how did the lab scene fit in?

The woman walked back into the kitchen and began washing dishes– that didn't look dirty– even though no one had eaten in the scene.

Then the screen changed and a close up view of the unfortunate experiments was shown, the most recent victim was starting to rot, despite the fact that he had only been dead a few minutes.

The sight repulsed me and I turned away, burying my face in Ryuzaki's shirt and closing my eyes to avoid throwing up.

I felt Ryuzaki shift as he looked down at me, then as a loud, sickening moan shocked me into looking back at the scene, only to watch as thirty-some rotting corpses stood up shakily and began to climb back up the chute.

I finally realized what kind of movie this was.

It was a horror movie. I flinched violently as one of the corpses lost a leg, and made a noise along the lines of 'eeep' while pressing my face back into Ryuzaki's shoulder.

He wrapped one arm around me and chuckled as I flinched again.

I was not going to beg for him to turn the movie off.

I was going to sit here and stay quiet while he watched it.

I was not a coward, and I was going to prove it!

"Ryuzaki! P-please stop it!" I begged into his shirt as people screaming began to mix with the moans.

I was a coward and I hated zombies.

Ryuzaki almost openly laughed at my panic, while I pressed even closer to him. Then he was gone, he slid easily out of my grip and I collapsed onto the couch just in time to see a scientist impale himself on a piece of lab equipment in his hurry to escape the undead.

Then the screen went black as Ryuzaki turned the movie off, he opened the machine and took the disc out before looking back at me.

I shook a bit and closed my eyes before recovering and sitting back up.

"Th-thank you." I said.

I suppose that proves that out of the two of us, I was worse with blood then Ryuzaki.

When Ryuzaki saw blood in real life, he was noticeably disturbed by it, but if it was a picture of blood, or blood on tv, he was fine with it. On the other hand, when I saw blood no matter where, I would start shaking or get sick.

Ryuzaki put the disc back in it's case and walked back over to the table by the door, he put the zombie movie on the table and picked up the pile of romance movies.

He walked back over to the couch and offered me the stack.

"Why don't you choose?" he suggested, teasingly.

I frowned and shook my head.

"It's your birthday." I stated, pushing the stack back towards him, knowing that I would be safe watching a boring romance.

He gave me a skeptical glance, but began looking through the five remaining movies.

The first movie, he rejected, setting it down on the couch between us.

The second one was placed on top of it, but the third one, he took out of the case and pushed into the machine.

Ryuzaki moved the pile of movies onto the floor so he could sit right next to me as we watched.

It was just as boring as I remembered, so I started criticizing the camera angles and the plot lines.

And a few other things.

"Why doesn't she where more clothing?" I complained as the female lead walked outside wearing one of the most revealing outfits I had ever seen. "I mean, if she really has to dress like a stripper to impress that man, then chances are he doesn't really like her." I complained.

Ryuzaki glanced at me as I continued with my rant.

"And another thing, all these women throw themselves on this guy, but he just ignores them even though a lot of them look more sincere, and less slutty, then the girl he's dating." I stated.

"Have you considered that he might be happy with the woman he's dating?" Ryuzaki challenged.

"Why would he be happy? Every time she sees him, something's gone wrong and she's acting all depressed about it. She never looks happy to be around him, plus she dresses like a stripper and flaunts it in front of tons of other guys every time she walks out her front door." I argued.

"Maybe she loves him because every time something goes wrong, he makes her feel better." Ryuzaki told me.

"Forget it, even more then that is the actors themselves, the two leads kiss in every scene and I bet they haven't even spoken since this movie was made. Kissing is intimate, isn't it? Like marriage, intimate. So how can people make out on screen for money, with someone they barely even know?" I pouted.

"Marriage, intimate?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Yes. Like the kind of intimate that means people will stay together. I think, that when a man kisses a woman, he has two months at the most, to show up with a wedding ring." I stated, firmly.

"Have you kissed anyone?" Ryuzaki asked, flatly.

I blinked at him before holding my left hand right in front of his face long enough for him to see that I wore no rings. "No, Ryuzaki, I haven't." then curiosity overcame me. "Have you?"

"No." he stated, shifting a bit.

I leaned against him again and sighed as he wrapped one arm around me.

"Look at us," I teased, "mid twenties and no first kiss." I was laughing softly as I turned back to the screen.

"Do you ever want to kiss someone?" Ryuzaki asked, after another few minutes of silence.

"Are you asking if I want to get married?" I wondered, glancing back up at him.

"I suppose." he admitted.

I giggled a bit before answering. "I don't think so, I'll probably start moving around again after this case, searching for death notes is harder then I thought, but they don't show up often enough to keep me busy."

"You could have this building." he offered.

"I couldn't pay for this building." I stated.

"I could pay for you." he reminded me.

"Why, so you know where I am all the time?" I joked, and he surprised me by saying 'yes.'

I blinked as the movie ended.

"Why would you want to know where I am?" I asked.

"Obviously, you can't run away if I know where you are, and I could come visit you..." he faded off as some sappy classical music started playing while the end credits went by.

The timing was unbelievable.

- - - - - - - - - -

November 5th, and I had let it happen.

The day before, the killings had started again because I hadn't turned in Yagami-kun, and now Ryuzaki was trying to think up a plan to catch the new Kira.

I stared down at my hand as it moved across the keyboard, but I was only hitting random letters. All my focus was on Ryuzaki, sitting next to me, with Yagami-kun on the other side of him.

He seemed upset, but he was hiding it well enough that the task force hadn't noticed. I'm sure that Raito could tell, though.

I wouldn't dare say anything now, even though the thirteen day rule was the only thing that was keeping Amane and Raito clear, and I could have easily told the whole task force that it was a fake.

The only thing that stood between me and that statement was Rem. It was obvious that if I said anything that could put Amane in danger of being caught, Rem would kill Ryuzaki before he could act on what I said.

I regretted not telling Ryuzaki about the rule five days ago, when we were alone and had plenty of time to talk, but there was nothing I could do about that now.

I just needed to wait for a chance to tell Ryuzaki about the rule, then I had to find out a way to distract Rem while he did something about it.

Ryuzaki stood up, sighing and left the room without another word. He walked up the stairs and I could tell that he was going to his room to think about what needed to be done.

I waited five minutes before announcing that I needed to get something and leaving the room to follow him.

He was already out of sight by the time I reached his floor, which left me to find his room by memory.

Of course it still didn't take long.

I hesitated a second outside the door, but it was already clear that I had nothing to lose from telling him now.

I opened the door slowly almost like I was trying not to scare him.

"Ryuzaki?" I asked quietly.

He was working on his laptop and only looked up for a second before he went back to what he was doing.

"Ryuzaki, I have to tell you something." I stated, but I was being too quiet for him to take me seriously.

"Yumi." he said, without looking up at me. I closed the door behind me and walked over to the bed, but I stayed far enough away from the edge to be out of his reach. "Yagami Raito is Kira. So if something happens, I want you to make sure he's caught."

"What do you mean? Nothing's going to happen, catch him yourself." I told him, as I crawled across the bed to sit in front of him.

"Please make sure he's caught." Ryuzaki repeated.

"Ryu..." what he meant slowly hit me. "A-are you saying goodbye...?" I shuttered.

Ryuzaki closed his laptop and placed it on the bedside table while I stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"Ryuzaki!" I shouted at him, taking his silence as confirmation.

He glanced at me then looked back at the laptop to avoid meeting my gaze.

I lunged forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him towards me with as much strength as I could manage so that he would be forced to look me in the eye, but he only stared back at me, blankly and hopelessly.

"Please." he whispered.

I stuttered as I released his shirt, my hands shaking as I looked into his eyes.

"Ryuzaki..." I felt myself start to cry, but I held the tears back, they were useless and not very reassuring.

"You can't go." I told him, trying to search his eyes for any trace of hope or pride or anything. "I won't let you go, _you can't leave me!_" I started to panic.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug, trying not to cry.

"Please, Ryuzaki, please don't go." I begged as I half buried my face in his hair. "I'll do anything."

Still he didn't answer.

"Ryuzaki, the thir–" but the rest of my words were lost in a gasp of shock as I felt Ryuzaki kiss the side of my neck, near my shoulder.

My eyes widened as he kissed me again, higher up my neck, then again even higher, and again, until her reached my jaw and began kissing along the bone, then the corner of my mouth and–

I sucked in a quick breath as he came in again, wrapping his arms around my waist while he... didn't kiss me... he stopped short, but he was so close that I could feel him hesitating with his lips on mine.

But it wasn't a kiss.

He held still for a second or two before pulling away slowly, opening his eyes again as he put more distance between us. "Just friends." he whispered to me, as he stopped moving away.

I spent half a second wondering what idiot had come up with that notion, but the majority of my time was spent fighting back the tears that were forming. If the thought of him giving up was almost enough to bring me to tears, the thought of him giving up on me was enough to make the first tears feather my eyes.

He didn't want me after all.

I fought the sob building in my throat as I tried to remember why I had come here.

To see him but... I couldn't remember the rest...

He continued to look down at me, I could tell that he was testing something by the look in his eyes but I couldn't think past that.

So I stopped thinking and did what was undoubtably the most daring thing I had done in my life time. I closed the gap between us and _I kissed him_.

The moment I had moved, he had frozen, but I barely registered how unresponsive he was because at the last second I remembered something before my mind went blank.

If having him near me caused my brain to stop working, then kissing him caused my brain to implode and drop like a marble down my spine.

I lost track of which way was up, and I could feel my heart and stomach burst into flames spontaneously. An electric shock ran through my whole body, and while all these things happened simultaneously, Ryuzaki began to move.

At first only his mouth moved while his tense muscles relaxed, but then he began pushing against me with his whole body, sliding one arm away from my waist and using it to push himself forward.

I was pressed flat against the bed as he collapsed on top of me, still kissing me with almost bruising force as I twisted my fingers in his hair. I gasped as he pushed me into the mattress and he took the chance to slide his tongue into my mouth.

I gasped again as he explored the inside of my mouth, sliding his tongue around my own and prompting me to copy what he did. I tried to do what he was doing, but I was clumsy and awkward, so I gave up and simply followed where he wanted me to go.

He used his free arm to slide up and down my side, eventually getting brave enough to slip it under my shirt and explore my chest. This time I didn't push him away, I didn't shout at him, and I didn't try to hit him, because I was perfectly content with what was happening.

I wrapped one of my legs around his waist, and slid one hand under the collar of his white shirt.

His adventurous right hand began to push my shirt slowly upward, trying to give me enough warning to avoid being attacked, but there was no risk there, in fact I was starting to look for a way to remove his shirt without breaking the kiss.

Around that time, I became aware that oxygen was, indeed, necessary for life and I was running out of it.

But, I decided that I was perfectly fine with continuing the kiss and waiting for unconsciousness to restart my lungs. Surely Ryuzaki would notice me go limp and would give me room to breath.

However, before I could pass out from lack of oxygen, I heard a familiar sound. The interruption was only made worse because it came from a person.

"Ryuzaki, Misa-Misa's–" Matsuda's cheerful voice began before he broke off with a cry of shock at the scene, which he was undoubtably just taken in.

The kiss ended as Ryuzaki and I both looked towards the distraction, Ryuzaki raising his head to look at the cop in the doorway, while I strained my neck to look at the man upside down.

"S-sorry!" Matsuda exclaimed as he slammed the door and retreated at an inhuman pace.

What he had seen was probably the most interesting position Ryuzaki and I had ever been in.

He was lying on top of me, with my shirt almost halfway off and my whole left arm reaching down the back of his shirt, while my leg wrapped around his waist. My other hand was twisted in his hair, and his other arm was wrapped around my waist, and pinned to the bed under me. All while passionately making out.

Awkward.

Once Matsuda left I gasped in as much air as possible before trying to speak. "That... _gasp_... was..._gasp_..._**amazing.**_.!" I tried to exclaim in a breathy voice.

Ryuzaki chuckled as he rolled off the bed.

"Let's go see what Matsuda-san thinks is so important." Ryuzaki suggested in a rather cheerful voice.

He grabbed my left hand and started pulling me off the bed. Though my right hand had been closer... I was just starting to wonder why he had bothered grabbing my left hand when I remembered our conversation from five days ago.

I remembered my standards for kissing...

It hit me too late that if he had taken me seriously when I said that, I had just gotten myself into an interesting situation.

Ryuzaki led me by the hand through the halls and to the elevator where we stopped to push the down button.

It was at this point that I remembered why I had come up here in the first place and how important it was that I told him soon.

"Ryuzaki, I have to tell you..." but he wasn't listening to me, instead he was busy playing with my shirt and backing me against one of the elevator walls as we began to descend.

He smiled openly as he kissed both my cheeks, my forehead, my nose–

"Ryuzaki!" I shouted to get his attention.

He pulled back, the smile fading.

"This is important..." I started again, but at that moment the elevator opened with a loud ding and we both stepped out onto the carpet of the floor right above the main room. After we walked down the stairs I would have lost my chance to tell him about the rule.

"Ryuzaki– stop walking, this is important–" I pulled on his arm and he stopped halfway down the stairs to look at me, ready to listen to the important thing I had to tell him, but I had already seen Rem waiting to see what I did.

I watched Rem for a second, fighting the strong urge to glare at her while Ryuzaki, having received no answer, finished walking down the stair as I trailed behind him.

"Wait, Ryuzaki, the thirteen day–" I started just as Raito entered the room through the main door, Amane had probably come to visit. I ignored Raito for the most part as I ran in front of Ryuzaki, stopping him from moving any farther away from the stairs.

My back was to Rem, I didn't see her react and I regretted it instantly.

The aura appeared behind me first and I whirled around hoping to stop Rem before the name was written but I wasn't that fast. "Rem! Stop! He'll kill her anyway!" was the first thing that came out of my mouth, I was just shouting mindlessly as the second red aura appeared behind me.

Rem hesitated, whatever I had said– I couldn't remember anymore– had struck some sort of chord, but I was already too late.

I spun back around to face Ryuzaki, he didn't know what was happening, he didn't look frightened, just confused because he couldn't see Rem behind me, he couldn't see the pulsing red aura.

Rem hesitated, I suppose, because no third aura appeared even though she must have intended at first to kill someone else.

Several emotions fought for dominance, so I suppose that Ryuzaki only saw me as blank and confused.

Crying won the fight and I felt the first few tears slide down my cheeks as the forty seconds ended. Ryuzaki didn't make a sound as he collapsed, even though he must have been in pain.

My body reacted before my mind could and I was on the floor with Ryuzaki in my lap before I could think through what was happening.

"Ryuzaki! _Ryuzaki!!_" I shrieked at him as he watched me go to pieces.

He looked back at me, staring blankly into my eyes. I knotted my right fist in his shirt, pressing it into his chest over his heart as I cried mindlessly.

There was a high pitched ringing in my ears but the room was silent other then that. Ryuzaki's eyes began to close slowly, the second or two that he used to look at me before he closed his eyes seemed like forever.

I continued to push my right hand into his chest almost like I was trying to restart his heart, then I leaned forward and whispered in his ear shakily.

"_L Lawliet, I love you._"

My voice sounded shaky, and even though we both knew how I felt, I still whispered it in his ear. I wouldn't tell him I loved Ryuzaki, or any of his other names, but at the same time, I refused to let the others hear his name.

Watari and I were the only people on earth who knew it, and even though it wouldn't have to be kept a secret anymore, I wasn't going to let anyone know the name that only I had ever called him by.

I pulled back and sobbed into his chest, I pushed my fist into him desperately, wanting nothing more then to stop the death note. I choked on my own tears as the aura disappeared all at once.

It didn't fade, it just vanished.

The ringing noise faded out and my gasps for air and my sobbing echoed through the silent room. The task force was there, and Raito but no one made any noise.

"_Please, don't go, please don't, please... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..._" I whispered into his chest, then I made an attempt at swallowing my tears, my right hand loosened it's grip on his white shirt, his faint breath blowing a few strands of my hair into my tear-stained face, his almost non-existent heart beat pounding in my ears...

I sucked in a breath, my sobs stopping instantly as I tried to listen for the bass thumping and the slight breeze that I had thought I had heard.

I pulled away from his chest, looking down into his face, he looked peaceful, like he did when he was sleeping, but that didn't prove anything.

I bent down a little so that I could feel his weak breath on my face, a few of my tears fell onto his cheeks as I stayed in that position, unsure if I was imagining the whole feeling. "_Ryuzaki?_" I whispered softly, leaning in even closer to see if he would react at all.

He didn't, but I was distracted at that moment, by footsteps behind me, they were slow and unsure as they approached, then they stopped right behind me and I heard a voice, the smooth silky voice of a lying rat. "Yumi..." Raito began, but I reacted with the speed of pent up anger, swinging my upper body around in an attempt at bruising him as best I could with my shaking right hand.

He stepped back with a fake look of surprise on his face, as though he hadn't expected me to try and injure him for what he had done. He narrowly avoided my out-stretched fingers but that was where my anger ended.

The fury I had felt towards him dulled into curiosity as I watched my own hand move through the air and stop as I reached the limit of how far my body could twist.

I pulled my right hand closer to my face and examined it, turning it over and over as I watched the aura pulse.

It wasn't red, or I would have been frightened, and it wasn't spread out all over me, like it normally would have been. It was silver and concentrated only on my right hand, like I was holding something that glowed and shifted like mist.

I couldn't feel it at all, and I started to wonder if that was why no one ever noticed that there was something different about how they felt under the influence of the death note.

It glowed and pulsed and I watched it with interest for a few seconds, losing all anger that I had felt in exchange for the curiosity I was feeling over the new aura.

I turned back towards Ryuzaki and _away_ from Raito as I flexed my fingers, then I pulled Ryuzaki closer, being careful not to touch him with my right hand, and examined him with a clearer head then before.

I placed my right hand, palm down, on the ground next to me as I adjusted the position of Ryuzaki's limp body in my lap.

After a second I felt Raito sit down right behind me and press himself gently against my back.

"I'm sorry." he said, loud enough for the whole room to hear, then he took my right hand in his and whispered in my ear. "This had to happen." he hissed.

I shivered as I felt him touch my hand and then I flinched as the red aura of a death note victim erupted around him. He didn't seem to notice it, he just continued to whisper in my ear, so the task force couldn't hear him.

I wasn't sure if he was trying to be comforting or seductive, but I was trying too hard to imagine that he was someone else behind me– anyone else– to decide.

"Raito." I said, flatly, not looking at him. He had been speaking but I didn't care, he didn't have much time left. "He's not dead." I stated.

It was obvious who I meant. For a second Raito didn't move at all, he had broken off mid sentence– or mid gloat– in order to consider what I had said. Then he shifted to look over my shoulder at Ryuzaki who was now clearly breathing, though he was still unconscious.

I could _hear_ Raito's eyes widen in shock at how the death note had failed.

"You're going to die." I informed him, coldly.

The task force hadn't heard the exchange, so I wasn't surprised that more then one person made a noise of shock when Raito released my hand and sprinted across the room.

I didn't turn around, but I heard the sound of fingers fumbling with paper as Raito searched through the death note that the dead Rem had dropped.

"Ha! No, it can't be! My name's not here!" Raito shouted in triumph, though it was obvious that he wasn't really sure.

The forty seconds ended at that moment, I heard a choked scream as the book dropped to the floor and a thump as a writhing body followed it.

Raito wasn't silent like Ryuzaki, he wasn't that strong, so as the heart attack came, he began to scream and thrash around on the ground.

"Raito! Raito, what's wrong!?" Yagami-san's voice cut through the screaming as I heard him crossing the room.

"What's going on!?" Aizawa's voice followed suit.

Finally the screaming stopped and the last sound I heard from the teenaged murderer was a choked and panic filled whisper.

"It wasn't my name..."

And then I heard Yagami-san shouting again as his son fell limp in his arms.

I reached into Ryuzaki's pocket for his cell phone and called Watari, I didn't have my phone with me and I had to hurry.

"_Ryuzaki?_" Watari's voice asked over the phone, figures.

"No, it's Yumi... can you drive us to the hospital?" I asked, I knew my voice was scrambled, and to my great relief, Watari didn't waste time with questions, he simply told me to meet him out front.

I hung up and set myself to the task of moving L, luckily I could now use both hands.

I tried as hard as I could to ignore Yagami-san's sobbing over the death of his son, Kira.

Matsuda must have noticed what I was trying to do, because he jogged over to help me support L's body.

He took one arm and we left the building.

It was a silent walk out the main entrance, but when we got to the car and Watari opened the door for us, I told Matsuda that I could take him to the hospital alone.

Watari and Matsuda helped me get Ryuzaki into the back seat and then they closed the door behind us. Watari walked around to the other side and got into the driver's seat, starting the engine as I leaned against the window with Ryuzaki sleeping in my lap.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ma'am, you are going to have to leave soon..." the nurse said for about the hundredth time that night. She had been coming back every hour since I had been allowed to sit by L as he slept.

I didn't acknowledge her at all. I had by this point figured out that if I just looked hopeless and forlorn, while I stared at L or played with his hair, the nurse would take pity on me and grant me 'five more minutes' then forget that I was here.

The nurse sighed and repeated her time warning before leaving the room again. I took L's hand, lacing my fingers through his as I ran the fingers of my other hand through his hair.

It had been announced a while ago that he was perfectly healthy, with the exception of the unbelievable amount of sugar in his system, and was only unconscious due to shock.

The steady beeping of the large slightly frightening machines in the room reminded me that he was fine and had given me enough strength to stay with him even though I was dead tired by this point.

My eyes slid closed again as I rested my head on his chest, but I snapped back up as I remembered how important it was for me to be there– awake– when he woke up.

I made a decision to take advantage of the fact that he couldn't give me any curious looks or sarcastic comments, and kissed him lightly while he slept.

He hummed a bit and lulled his head to the side as I rested my head back on his chest...

I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but it was probably past midnight and stress wares you out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Movement woke me, I was being shifted into a more comfortable position, but I was too dazed and tired to notice...

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"...sorry, Sir, but she has to leave..."

"Let her stay just a little longer... please..."

"It's very late, Sir, your girlfriend needs to go, now..."

"She's asleep now, why don't you wait a little longer, I'll wake her and send her away soon..."

"I shouldn't..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Yumi..."

I moaned a little and snuggled into the warm cloth that I was surrounded in.

"Yumi... wake up..."

The voice was beautiful, smooth and calm, but rough enough to command attention when needed...

There was a sigh and I was shifted into a tighter hold, not that I complained, the arms around me were warm and strong...

"Yumi." the voice sighed again as I snuggled closer. I felt long thin fingers sliding through my hair, but I still couldn't tell where I was. The room was dark, and that wasn't just because I had my eyes closed.

Finally I slid my eyes open a fraction and was met with the most wonderful face I had ever seen...

I closed my eyes and pressed even closer to the perfect man, before the day rushed back to me all at once.

"L! You're awake, I'm so sorry, I–" I shot up in bed and turn around to face him.

A hand cut off the rest of my sentence and pulled me back into a laying position on top of him.

A soft chuckle was his only response as my face was pressed into his shirt.

"Muphophuhnih?" I tried to ask through the fabric.

"What were you dreaming about?" he asked, off handedly.

"Well I was– wait, why?" I asked, deciding that he didn't need to know what I had been dreaming about.

"You said my name, very clearly, several times." he stated.

"...oh... which name?" I asked.

"Ryuzaki, or I would have woken you earlier." L said.

"Sorry..." I muttered.

L leaned forward and kissed my forehead, laughing again at how red I turned.

I glanced around the room and noticed for the first time that I was lying in the hospital bed with L instead of sitting in the chair beside it, like I had been when I had first fallen asleep.

I heard him laugh softly again, and turned back to give him a playful glare. "What's so funny?" I managed to ask, successfully this time.

"So, you love me?" L asked, smirking as if he had just beaten me at a game of skill.

"Uh.. You were awake for that?" I asked, blushing even more.

"I wasn't supposed to be?" he challenged.

"I didn't expect you to be." I shot back, irritated.

"I see. So would you have told me again later?" he asked.

"Probably not." I admitted, looking down at his shirt.

"So does that mean you weren't telling the truth?" he made a show of looking hurt.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not you, if I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have said it."

He chuckled again.

"What happened to Yagami-kun?" he asked, finally changing the subject to something more serious.

"I think he's dead..." I said. "Actually, I'm pretty sure of it."

"I see." L said, looking largely unaffected. "What happened to him?"

I sighed, I was tired, and I didn't want to tell him what had happened yet. "I'll explain tomorrow, but right now, can I tell you something else?" I asked.

He nodded, and I took a deep breath before moving closer to him, lying on his chest and looking him right in the eyes.

"The real reason I left you in LA was..." I wrapped my arms around his neck as he waited for me to finish. "I was scared of falling in love with you..." I admitted, leaning in and kissing his lips softly.

He wrapped one of his arms around my waist and placed his other hand on the back of my head.

I pulled away and avoided his gaze as I rested my head on his chest. He seemed to be enjoying himself, but I could never tell. That's why I had always been so afraid of my feelings for him. I could never tell if he really felt the same or not.

"And did you ever conquer that fear?" he asked, softly.

"Yes." I whispered into his neck. "Yes, I did."

He kissed my forehead again and I shivered at the touch.

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**author's note:** alright, 18 pages! That took forever. Ok, so by the time I post this, it will have been finished for at least an hour, because I want to post the epilogue at the same time. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews!


	85. Chapter 85

**Disclaimer:** I don't own death note.

**Chapter 85**

**Epilogue: One Year Later**

I giggled again as L tried to steal a few bites of my cake, but I needed all the food I could get, and I wasn't letting him get away with it.

He pouted as I ate the bite off of his fork before he could get it to his own mouth. I rested my head on his shoulder as we sat on the couch in the hotel room.

We were back in Japan for a smuggling case, but L had solved it two days ago and we were leaving the hotel, and the country, today.

The only reason we were still here was that I had insisted that we let the task force come visit before we go. I had pouted for about an hour and L had finally gotten irritated enough to allow it.

Yagami-san had been devastated when I had showed Raito's watch and the hidden piece of the death note to the task force, he had tried to defend the honor of his dead son at first, but then as I continued with my story– the whole story, finally– he had given in and simply remained silent.

After all the explaining, I secretly went to see Amane, I wasn't completely surprised to see Ryuk there, and after a long heated debate and a not-so-long fist fight, I had managed to get the death note and all it's pages away from her.

I burned them in secret and she lost her memories concerning Kira and shinigami.

I pleaded with Ryuzaki not to convict her, it hadn't really been her fault and with the death notes gone for good, she would never be able to cause any damage.

He consented with a heavy sigh and the police never went after her.

Matsuda accepted a permanent job as her manager as well as his detective tittle back, so he was now keeping an unofficial eye on her.

Yagami-san had gotten a promotion and, with the official Kira capture story being that Raito was innocent and had died doing something heroic, his family at least was able to feel pride about the whole thing.

Aizawa managed to get more time off to spent with his wife and kids.

There was a knock on the hotel room door and I stood up to answer it... well tried to stand up, but before I could steady myself I had a fit of motion sickness and bent over all most double– or as far as I could bend with my protruding stomach– expecting to throw up on the floor.

I felt and arm wrap around me from behind and I leaned my weight on L as I swallowed the cake I had just eaten.

L sighed in annoyance, again, as he tried to sit me back down on the couch.

"Cut it out, I can answer the door!" I snapped at him as I tried to wrestle out of his arms.

"Yumi..." he started to argue, but I changed my tactics a bit and kissed him on the cheek.

"What if you helped me answer the door?" I asked, sweetly, trying to smile as I felt a vicious internal kick.

"No, Yumi, sit down..." I frowned and unhooked his arms from around my waist, then I turned and tried to walk to the door on my own.

I made it three steps before I stumbled a bit and felt L's arms steady me again.

"Thanks..." I breathed as another few kicks threw me off balance.

L sighed in irritation– he had been doing that a lot lately– and helped me walk the rest of the way to the door.

I turned the knob smiling and greeted Matsuda and Aizawa.

Matsuda's eyes widened impossibly and I couldn't help but laugh at his face.

"Yumi! You're huge!– Uh, wait, I mean you're pregnant!" he shouted, correcting himself.

I smiled and nodded, trying to confirm that he hadn't insulted me.

"Congratulations." Aizawa offered while Matsuda did a thorough examination of my bulging stomach.

"Come in." I invited, smiling.

I could tell that L was getting annoyed already. He had been a bit short tempered lately, and I could tell that it was my fault. Because I was pregnant, it was harder for me to move around for his cases, and I refused to be left behind.

It had been six months since we had figured out about the pregnancy, and it had already been two months in by then.

With L, denial had been the first of his many phases of acceptance. He had insisted on sending me to three different doctors before he finally decided that it wasn't a mistake.

Then he went into the 'making it up to me' phase where he tried to make breakfast every day and stopped working late so that he could sleep with me at night.

But then, by month six, he was starting to get short tempered about it, he was probably getting too much sleep.

It hadn't been his fault though, it was mine. Me and alcohol. Of course, he could have been upset because he was sober and he still didn't stop me.

I couldn't remember much, though.

"Matsuda, I hear that Amane-san has a new movie coming up?" I asked, as a way of starting small talk.

"Oh– yeah, Misa-Misa is staring in an American movie!" Matsuda celebrated.

"That's great." I was helped onto the couch by L as I tried to keep a cheerful look on my face.

L wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest, I fought down another fit of motion sickness, sitting down and standing up were becoming out-of-body experiences.

Matsuda was the first to sit down on the couch across from us and Aizawa followed after a few seconds.

"Are you two going to come to the premiere?" Matsuda asked, thrilled with the idea.

"In America?" I glanced at L. "No, we're going somewhere for a few months." I said.

"Oh? Well, I'll send you a copy when it comes out on DVD!" he planned.

"Great." I smiled.

Another movie to add to my steadily growing collection. L had made a habit of buying me every boring romance movie he saw. We never watched them.

The high pitched _bip bip bip _of L's cell phone interrupted the conversation, but I didn't have anything else to say about Matsuda's Misa-Misa fandom.

"What is it, Watari?" he asked, automatically knowing who it was.

"Yes... right... we'll be right there...." he snapped the phone shut and stated that if we didn't leave now, we were going to miss our plane.

We apologized, or actually I apologized and L helped me walk out of the room.

It was only a ten minute drive to the airport, so we actually wound up waiting half an hour for our plane, which made me suspicious of Watari's timing.

We boarded the plane and L let me have the window seat again. I cut off the circulation in his right arm as the plane left the ground then I fell asleep on his shoulder while we were in the air.

We were going to Wammy's house, L had made the decision about a week ago because I refused to stay behind and it was getting impossible for me to move around with him. So he decided that until the twins were born, we would stay at the house. It was only a month until my due date, then the great detective L was going to be a father.

The idea made me giggle, and the mental picture I got of L trying to care for two little girls was priceless, but had faith in him.

The plane landed in London and Watari drove us to the house.

The ambush that greeted us inside the front door didn't bother me much, even when Mello ran at us shouting something like "Miss Yumi, you got huge!" his friend Matt following behind him, some kind of hand held video game in his hand.

Near was sitting at the foot of the stairs assembling a blank puzzle and generally trying to ignore all the noise that Mello and Matt caused as they greeted L, their idol.

I slipped past the welcoming committee as they tried to tackle L, begging for stories about the latest cases.

I walked over to sit on the stairs by Near and watch the chaos unfold, Mello was very enthusiastic about becoming the next L, and he had decided that knowing everything that L did when he left the house was necessary in order to succeed him.

"Is the baby L's?" Near asked, quietly, not looking up from his puzzle.

"They're twins and yes, they're his." I smiled at Near. His calm and quiet disposition was what I needed to cure the migraine I had developed.

"Congratulations." Near said, tonelessly, but he wasn't unkind.

Unlike Mello, who was still upset about his idol getting married, even to someone who helped him solve cases, Near was much more supportive, or maybe he just didn't care all that much, but either way it was refreshing to be around him.

I watched as Mello grabbed onto the bottom of L's shirt and childishly jumped around as he asked for detail about the case. L frowned, but his eyes were softer, so I at least could tell that he wasn't too annoyed. In fact, if I hadn't known him better, I would have thought that he liked the attention he got here.

I laughed as Matt finally lost interest and backed a few steps away as he focused all his attention on his handheld game.

By the time L and I made it up the stairs, the whole house was aware of our visit. Luckily, L's attic room, which the two of us now shared, was the only bedroom in the house besides Watari's and Mr. Roger's that had a lock on the door.

Unpacking was easy, so we had plenty of time before dinner, time which we spent lying in bed.

It was going to be a very interesting seven months.

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**author's note:** Wow, last chapter! I felt like ending the story back at Wammy's house, which was basically where it started. I'm very excited about finally being done with my first fic, and I promise to write another one eventually, but for now I'm going to focus on school stuff. Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews! Oh, yes, I do believe that Mello would have been that much of a spaz if L hadn't died. Now that I've finished with this story, I'm going to go back and fix all the spelling and grammar errors in the earlier chapters, that should take about a week and then the story will be much easier to read. Thanks for reading!


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